What Enzo Maresca told us about Reece James and Romeo Lavia’s chances of starting against Bournemouth | OneFootball

We were very excited to see two names in particular starting for Chelsea today in their 5-0 battering of Morecambe in the FA Cup.

Both Romeo Lavia and Reece James have missed out on so much of this season, and they both play in positions where we’re desperately in need of cover – let alone top quality players like those two. It was great to see them in the lineup, and this was the perfect chance to ease the two injury prone stars back into action.

They’ve both been training for a while, and even after finally starting today they were only given 45 minutes by Enzo Maresca, who had the following to say about the returning pair in his press conference after the game:

“The idea is to slowly build the right condition. Especially with Reece, we need to be a bit more careful. They both finished well with no problem. We have to help them to get in the right condition.”

Tuesday night the next big test for returning pair

Reece James celebrates on the pitch after Morecambe win.

The question now is whether they start on Tuesday night in the Premier League against Bournemouth. We’d think not, given Maresca’s comments above, and given the gentle treatment they’re getting, but both should be ready for second half appearances off the bench.

That in itself will be a huge boost for a team with no wins in their last 4 league games. That kind of quality coming into a game in the second half can turn draws into wins, and it takes the pressure off Malo Gusto, Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo who have been racking up crazy minutes while their best alternates are injured.

If all goes well, today’s casual cup win could end up being a very significant turning point ahead of the season half of the season.