Latest: Injury gives Maresca huge selection headache for this weekend | OneFootball

Well, there goes that plan.

Enzo Maresca had set up his back line specifically to give Marc Cucurella a rest tonight. Malo Gusto played at left back, Trevoh Chalobah at right back, then Reece James in midfield.

It’s only lasted 25 minutes though, thanks to an injury to Gusto. The Frenchman appeared to be in pain after a Copenhagen player landed on his ankle earlier. He played on, but blocking a cross with that same foot seemed to do more damage, and he went down right away asking to be taken off.

Marc Cucurella will come on, changing the dynamic to a more usual one with the Spaniard on the left. He’s hardly going to be burned out, given it’s 9 days since out last game, but it’s frustrating to not be able to give him the break we clearly wanted to.

Maresca will already be thinking ahead to Premier League clash

Reece James applauds Chelsea fans after Brighton defeat. (Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)

It didn’t look a hugely serious problem for Gusto, but either way one feels he’s likely to miss a week at least. Looking ahead to the weekend when we face Leicester, this likely means James moving to right back, with Enzo Fernandez returning to play alongside Moises Caicedo in the middle of the pitch.

But that’s all the more reason to take James off earlier in this game, to keep him fresh and prevent the notoriously fragile full back picking up an injury. The problem is how few central midfield options we have while Romeo Lavia remains unfit – the whole reason James is in there in the first place is that there are desperately few options to play a deep lying midfield role.

That’s been as big a squad planning problem as those up front and in goal this season.