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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Matt Verri

Enzo Maresca reveals double Chelsea injury boost as Reece James explanation given ahead of Nottingham Forest

Enzo Maresca has confirmed that Christopher Nkunku and Marc Guiu could feature for Chelsea on the final day of the season.

The Blues travel to take on Nottingham Forest with a place in next season’s Champions League on the line.

As it stands, Chelsea are fifth in the table and that would secure a return to the top tier of European competition, but Forest in seventh are only a point behind Maresca’s side.

Chelsea beat Manchester United a week ago to stay in control of their own fate despite not having a recognised striker, due to Nicolas Jackson’s suspension.

He remains unavailable for Sunday’s clash, but Nkunku and Guiu have both recovered from injury issues and are in contention to feature at the City Ground.

“[Nkunku] is working with us in the last days, him and Marc Guiu,” Maresca said at his pre-match press conference on Friday.

“Both can be available for the next game, knowing that neither of them has played some minutes.

“They are both available [for Forest] yes.”

Nkunku has been out for more than a month with an unspecified injury, while Guiu has been on the sidelines since February with a hamstring issue.

Chelsea captain Reece James is believed to have trained separately from the main squad earlier this week, but Maresca confirmed there is not an injury concern there.

“Reece is okay,” the Chelsea boss explained.

“He simply has his own plan and programme to protect him. We are managing him also in training sessions.”

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