Latest: Maresca says Chelsea striker could return to training in next few days, ahead of schedule

“Liam is very close,” Maresca said.

“He is not working with us yet. He is still out. But hopefully he can start in the next days [training] with us.”

If Delap starts training later this week, even the most cautious recovery plan would have him ready to play some minutes by mid-November. We saw how much better the team looked with a proper striker when Marc Guiu went up there in the second half on Saturday, and Delap is a better player than Guiu.

By the sounds of things, there’s just a few more weeks to wait. The next international break should provide a perfect time for him to get up to speed.

“We have [Guiu] and Tyrique [George], who played as a number nine in the past, we have different options. We have one more session. We will decide tomorrow,” the coach concluded when asked about who would lead the line against Ajax.

In other news…

It’s not all good news from the presser however – Maresca put some doubt on whether Enzo Fernandez would be fit to play tomorrow night after the Argentine missed the weekend’s win over Nottingham Forest, saying he needs to be “protected.”

Pedro Neto is one player who has been fit and firing however – and he played a crucial role in our win at the weekend, as was pointed out by some pundits this week.