Chelsea captain Reece James is fit to face Manchester United, Enzo Maresca has confirmed.
James, who was a second half substitute in the 2-0 loss to Newcastle last weekend, emerged as a doubt for Friday’s showdown with the Red Devils after missing training earlier in the week.
However, when delivering an update on the right-back during the pre-match press conference on Thursday morning, Maresca revealed James has since returned to training and should be available for selection.
He said: “Reece is okay. He was ill so he was out for Tuesday’s session but yesterday he had the session with us.”
That in mind, Chelsea will be without Christopher Nkunku and Marc Guiu for the visit of Man Utd.
The former is still sidelined through injury, whilst the latter is not yet ready to make his return despite making great progress in training.
“He’s started to train for us but he’s not ready to start,” Maresca added.
Nicolas Jackson begins his three-match suspension after being sent-off at St James’ Park, Jadon Sancho cannot face his parent club, Mykhailo Mudryk is unavailable and Wesley Fofana will not play again this season.
Victory for the Blues will move them one step closer to sealing a top-five finish, thus qualifying for next season’s Champions League.
