Chelsea boss issues Reece James update following return from injury | OneFootball

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca says he has to be “careful” with Reece James as he eases the defender back into the side following his recovery from injury.

The 25-year-old made his first appearance since November when he started for the Blues in their 5-0 win over Morecambe in the third round of the FA Cup.

Christopher Nkunku missed a first-half penalty but Tosin Adarabioyo opened the scoring before the interval. Nkunku did eventually get his goal shortly after the break, before Adarabioyo scored his second and Joao Felix grabbed a late brace.

Maresca heavily rotated his lineup against the League Two outfit, handing starts to Filip Jorgensen, Renato Veiga, 18-year-old Tyrique George, Marc Guiu and Romeo Lavia, who had been sidelined with a thigh injury since December.

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Chelsea boss issues Reece James injury update

The Italian tactician says he has to manage both the midfielder and James‘ minutes, which is why he took both players off at halftime. “The idea is to slow build the right condition,” he told his post-match press conference.

“Especially for Reece, we have to be a bit more careful. The good thing is they both played 45 minutes and finished well without any problem. We can start to help them and bring the right condition.

“Hopefully now we can start to help them to build the right condition.”

Meanwhile, Noni Madueke missed the game altogether due to illness. “It was just because yesterday he didn’t finish the session. He was unwell,” Maresca explained.

Chelsea have not lifted a trophy since winning the Fifa World Club Cup four years ago and lost won the FA Cup in 2018. Maresca is keen to pick up silverware in his first season at Stamford Bridge.

“It’s an important competition but since we started, we are trying to treat all of the competitions the same way,” he added.

“The Premier League, the Conference League, unfortunately in the Carabao Cup we lost against Newcastle, now the FA Cup. We try to do our best in all of the competitions.”

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