Chelsea face anxious wait over major new injury blow as Enzo Maresca crisis escalates | OneFootball

Struggling Blues facing real attacking shortage in bid to halt recent slump

Chelsea are facing an anxious wait to discover the extent of Noni Madueke’s hamstring issue as Enzo Maresca’s attacking injury crisis worsens.

The winger immediately signalled that he needed to be replaced and made a tearing motion towards the substitutes’ bench when coming off for Jadon Sancho, then headed straight down the tunnel.

The Blues are already missing both Nicolas Jackson and Marc Guiu due to hamstring injuries, with neither player expected back until after next month’s international break.

Mykhailo Mudryk remains provisionally suspended, while Joao Felix was allowed to join AC Milan on loan on deadline day at the start of this month.

As a result, Maresca is suddenly down to the bare bones in terms of attacking options. Once Sancho had replaced Madueke at the Amex Stadium, the Italian was left with academy graduate Tyrique George as his only forward player on the bench.

Concern: Noni Madueke limped off with a hamstring injury during Chelsea’s latest defeat by Brighton

Chelsea FC via Getty Images

The one saving grace for Maresca is that the Blues’s upcoming fixture list does not look overly taxing.

Chelsea travel to Aston Villa on Saturday evening, before hosting bottom side Southampton the following midweek but then have a free weekend following their FA Cup fourth round exit, also at Brighton.

Their two-legged last-16 Conference League tie, for which the opposition will be confirmed this week, will come either side of another home league game against a struggling outfit in Leicester.

Chelsea then meet Arsenal away in their final game before the international break, with Mikel Arteta’s side facing a real shortage of forward options themselves.