Hamstring injury for regular starter adds another question for Maresca’s midfield | OneFootball

We’re halfway through this final international break of 2024, and Chelsea have done pretty well on the injury front.

While a few players didn’t go to join up with their national teams at all, either due to knocks or simply fatigue, others like Pedro Neto have been sent home after playing just one game in order to give them a full week’s rest: thank you Roberto Martinez.

Then there’s the other group: players who went to join up with their national team and then came home after an assessment, like Malo Gusto with the France Under 21s.

It seems we can now add Romeo Lavia to that group. Belgium manager Domenico Tedesco had the following to say about the midfielder:

“Romeo Lavia has a hamstring problem, it was bothering him this morning and we didn’t want to risk him.”

Belgium played Italy on Thursday night without Lavia, and will now face Israel tonight, also without the midfielder.

Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia in a photo montage.

Lavia could still return for Leicester game after restful fortnight

The hamstring problem appeared to be what was affecting Lavia during our draw with Arsenal before the break, leading to his substitution in the second half. It seemed pretty minor – and it was certainly minor enough that Lavia was allowed to go and join up with Belgium in the first place.

Hopefully this works out in our favour – he’s not going to play a minute for his country during this break, so he has basically had 2 weeks with no matches and minimal training, which should hopefully get him up to speed for our game next weekend.

If he’s not fit, Enzo Maresca will have some interesting questions in his midfield. Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo could be pretty fatigued after coming back from South America, especially in an early kick off on Saturday.