Latest: Maresca confirms Chelsea lose two central defenders until October

Chelsea have been playing Tosin Adarabioyo and Trevoh Chalobah all season so far, waiting for Wesley Fofana to return from his long term injury. He finally did so in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night, playing his first 90 minutes since last November.

But he’s already out again – he suffered a concussion in that game, and the 12 day compulsory absence for any player who shows symptoms means he’s now done until after the international break.

To make things worse, Maresca added that Tosin “probably will be out until [after] the international break with a calf injury.” It looks like Trevoh Chalobah is going to be our only fit senior centre back for the next 3 games. Benoit Badiashile is “almost back” – but isn’t he always?

Maresca’s push to sign another defender to cope with the season ending injury to Levi Colwill looks more and more sensible now.

Fofana to have enforced slow return from long-term problems

The only good news is that a concussion for Fofana is totally separate to his long running injury problems.

After starting in midweek he was likely to be rested for this next game anyway. But missing the Benfica and Liverpool games next week is a blow. When we return to action in mid-October, it will have been so long since his last minutes he may need to be built up again.

But perhaps that’s the right approach to take with his injuries anyway.