Chelsea centre back Trevoh Chalobah will be out of action for at least a week after picking up an injury during the weekend’s 2-1 Premier League loss at Aston Villa, manager Enzo Maresca said on Monday.
Chalobah’s absence adds to seventh-placed Chelsea’s long injury list with Nicolas Jackson, Noni Madueke, Romeo Lavia and Wesley Fofana missing Saturday’s trip to Villa.
“He had a check yesterday and he will be around one week to 10 days,” Maresca said about Chalobah ahead of Tuesday’s home game against Southampton.
We believe we’re going to win today and our team is going to fight today because they know if they lose today they will be out of the tournament.
“On one side it is good because it is not an important injury but on the other side it is a shame because we lose another player at this moment with the amount of injuries that we had.”
An error by goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen led to Villa scoring a late second goal, handing Chelsea their third straight loss in all competitions. Maresca said he still had faith in Jorgensen as his number one keeper.
“He feels a little bit sad and upset because he recognises it was a mistake but overall he is okay,” the manager added.
Maresca said Chelsea, who are just a point below fourth-placed Manchester City, will face a stiff test against Southampton despite them being bottom of the league.
“I don’t trust games like this; they can be tricky games. If you watch the game against Manchester United away they were winning 1-0 until the last five minutes,” he said.
“It’s a tricky one and from now on, every game, every team is playing for something so they are all going to be tough.”
Former Leicester City manager Maresca said Chelsea had improved but needed to pick up some positive results to build momentum.
“When you are at Chelsea, I don’t think you have games you don’t prepare to win. Our duty is to prepare for every game to win. From now on we have 12 games to go and no doubt all of them are must-win for us,” he said.
“I have the feeling that winning one, we can build a good momentum again. That is what I think in this moment the players need.”
