Chelsea injuries may provide an opening for forgotten £58m man against Benfica

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Chelsea are preparing to welcome back the ‘Special One’ to Stamford Bridge this evening against Benfica, but another man could be welcomed back to the pitch as well.

The Blues could be forced to make significant changes to the starting line-up in tonight’s Champions League fixture as they aim to end their current slump.

Enzo Maresca’s men have lost three matches in a row heading into this fixture, with the 3-1 loss against Brighton at the weekend placing plenty of pressure on the Chelsea boss.

With Chelsea having no points so far in the Champions League, the team will be expected to change that tonight, and Maresca might have to rely on a forgotten member of the squad to achieve this.

Romeo Lavia might be handed his first start of the season against Benfica

Tonight could provide a rare opportunity for Romeo Lavia to start a game for Chelsea due to Moises Caicedo and Andrey Santos not being fully fit.

The two men who started the 3-1 loss against Brighton are questionable, and that might force Maresca to give Lavia an opportunity from the first whistle.

Lavia joined Chelsea for £58million from Southampton in 2023, and despite showing great glimpses of potential, he has struggled massively for fitness.

The central midfielder hasn’t started a game for Chelsea since the Club World Cup and has only made one appearance this season.

Fortunately for Maresca, that came in their most recent game against Brighton, where Lavia was able to feature for 11 minutes to get started building up his sharpness.

However, with limited midfield numbers, he might now be thrown in at the deep end from the first whistle.

Cole Palmer has previously labelled Lavia as the “most underrated baller,” with the squad having plenty of belief in him as a player.

TBR Football revealed that Chelsea like Lavia a lot, despite his injuries. But with this being a World Cup year, he is going to need a certain amount of game time, and tonight could present that opportunity.

Chelsea are dealing with a growing number of fitness issues

Fitness problems have plagued Chelsea’s season, starting before the campaign even began when Levi Colwill suffered an ACL injury.

Liam Delap then got hurt early into his Chelsea career, while Cole Palmer is out of action until after the upcoming international break with a groin problem.

During the pre-match press conference for Chelsea’s game against Benfica, Maresca confirmed that three other first-team players are also dealing with issues.

“We need to maintain levels for sure because the Champions League requires high levels. As you said in this moment we have unfortunately many players out for injury.

“This afternoon we’re going to assess Moises Caicedo, Joao Pedro, and Andrey Santos. They are all players, unfortunately, for us with some small problems.

“So we’ll see if tomorrow they’re going to be available. But we are for sure in this moment we have injuries but we have a squad enough in this moment to try to replace the injuries we have.”