Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca excited to face old club Leicester City but Reece James is injured again
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Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca has said that he is excited to face his former team Leicester City and he is still in contact with people at the club.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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LONDON – Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca is excited to tackle Leicester City, the club he guided into the English Premier League last season, but the Blues will be without captain Reece James who has been sidelined with injury again.
The Italian joined Leicester in June 2023 following the club’s relegation to the second tier in the preceding season, and helped the Foxes bounce back to the top flight as the won the Championship in his first term in charge.
“I’m excited and thankful, it was a fantastic season,” Maresca said ahead of the Nov 23 game. “The owner (Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha), his family are fantastic people. They care for players, staff, all of the people that work in the club. You can see that.
“It was a fantastic season because I met good people. There was a fantastic connection between the players and staff, and that is something you have to create to be successful. I’m still in contact with them.”
He said that James, who has made four appearances this season after struggling with a hamstring injury, is unavailable to feature at the King Power Stadium after suffering a setback this week.
“He felt something, he has to be out,” Maresca added. “For sure, this weekend and then we’ll see. We don’t know for how long. He has to try and avoid as much as he can.
“Hopefully he can be available for the next one but he is not available for this one. It’s a muscular problem. We don’t want to take any risks for this weekend. Hopefully, it’s not something long.”
Chelsea are third in the standings with 19 points from 11 games and will face a Leicester side languishing in 15th place. But Maresca said they cannot take Steve Cooper’s side for granted.
“They know exactly what we do,” he said. “We will try to adjust the small details to see if we can do something different. It’s more from their side that they know us better than we know them.
“It’s not an easy game. We can see it is always complicated, no matter where the teams are in the table. We are going to make sure we are focused and prepared. We will prepare to win in the best way.”
Arsenal are level on 19 points with Chelsea but in fourth spot on goal difference, and the same can be said for Nottingham Forest in fifth.
The Gunners host Forest on Nov 23 after a run of just three wins from their last nine league matches, including four without a victory.
Great expectations were placed on Mikel Arteta’s men to end a two-decade wait to win the league after finishing second to Manchester City in each of the last two seasons.
But Arsenal’s 2024-25 campaign has been a story of needless red cards, injuries to key men and a lack of killer instinct.
Arteta needs to find answers quickly if they are to remain in the title race, and the good news is that Leandro Trossard, Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice and Riccardo Calafiori are back in training.
Ben White, however, will be “out for months” following knee surgery.
“It’s been different kinds of struggles,” said Arteta. “It’s never been the same thing. It’s not been improving. It got to a point where we have to protect the player and let him have surgery.
“We have to see how he reacts post-surgery.” REUTERS, AFP
