Chelsea’s Enzo Maresca thrilled to reunite with former club Leicester City as Reece James suffers another injury setback

LONDON – Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca is looking forward to facing his former club Leicester City, whom he successfully led into the English Premier League last season. However, the Blues will be missing their captain Reece James once again due to injury.

Maresca joined Leicester in June 2023 following the club’s relegation to the second-tier in the 2022-23 season, and helped the Foxes bounce back to the top flight as they were crowned champions in his first term in charge.

“I’m excited and thankful, it was a fantastic season. The owner, his family are fantastic people. They care for players, staff, all of the people that work in the club. You can see that,” Maresca said ahead of the Nov 23 game.

“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 only 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. 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,” Maresca added.

“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... 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,” he insisted.

“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 due to 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 expectation was placed upon Mikel Arteta’s men to end a two-decade wait to win the league after finishing second to City in each of the last two seasons.

But Arsenal’s season 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. , AFP