LONDON: Chelsea striker Liam Delap is back in training after recovering from a hamstring injury but will not be available for their Premier League home game against promoted Sunderland this weekend, manager Enzo Maresca said on Friday.
The 22-year-old, who moved to Stamford Bridge from Ipswich Town for 30 million pounds ($40.26 million) in June, picked up the injury during the 2-0 home win over Fulham in August.
Initially expected to miss six to eight weeks, Maresca later suggested the Englishman could be out until December.
“We don’t have any new injuries,” Maresca told reporters ahead of Saturday’s game. “Liam took part of the session yesterday with the team for the first time. He is not going to be available for tomorrow but probably for the next one.”
Chelsea visit struggling Wolverhampton Wanderers in the League Cup fourth round on Wednesday.
“The schedule can also change a little bit. It depends how they improve or get worse from the first time they send me that but he can be available for that (Wolves),” Maresca added.
Maresca said Marc Guiu, who was recalled from a season-long loan at Sunderland after Delap’s injury, is ready to start a league game for Chelsea.
The 19-year-old Spanish striker initially struggled to impress Maresca in training but has since turned a corner.
Guiu joined Chelsea from Barcelona last year.
“We had a chat with Marc a few weeks ago. I told him about the way he was training. I didn’t like it. He needed to change. He changed and he got a chance,” Maresca said.
Asked what he did not like, the Italian replied: “He was not training well. In all the way ... That’s why young players are sometimes in one way or the other way. You need to go slowly, slowly with them.
“But since we chatted, it stopped. It’s fantastic. He is working very well.”
Seeking a fifth successive win in all competitions after Wednesday’s 5-1 thrashing of Ajax Amsterdam in the Champions League, Chelsea are braced for a tricky challenge against Sunderland.
Frenchman Regis Le Bris’ side have collected 14 points from their opening eight matches to sit in seventh place, one point behind champions Liverpool and level with fifth-placed Chelsea.
“They showed since the season started that they are a very good team. They play together, they work together. They have the same points as us so they are showing how good they are doing,” Maresca said.
“I spent one season with Leicester (City) in the Championship and I love the Championship. I watched Sunderland since last season when the manager arrived. They play good football, they are physically strong, so I like the way they are doing things.”
Chelsea forward Delap close to return from hamstring injury
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Chelsea forward Delap close to return from hamstring injury
- The 22-year-old picked up the injury during the 2-0 home win over Fulham in August
- Maresca said: “Liam took part of the session yesterday with the team for the first time”
Liverpool without Salah beats Inter in Champions League. Barcelona and Bayern win
- Karl became the youngest player to score in three consecutive Champions League games
- Headers by Jules Koundé three minutes apart gave Barcelona a 2-1 comeback victory over Eintracht Frankfurt
After leaving Mohamed Salah in England, Liverpool got a much-needed boost with a 1-0 win over Inter Milan in the Champions League on Tuesday, while Barcelona and Bayern Munich celebrated comeback wins and Chelsea lost.
With Salah out of the squad following his public criticism of the club last week, Dominik Szoboszlai stepped up instead to score the 88th-minute penalty which earned a 1-0 win over one of the competition’s best-performing teams.
It was all the more valuable for coming after a run of one win in six games in all competitions for Arne Slot’s under-pressure team, which moved up to eighth.
Liverpool’s players thought they had taken the lead with Ibrahima Konate’s header in the 31st minute but, after a video review that lasted more than four minutes, it was ruled out for handball as Virgil van Dijk had earlier nodded the ball on to the arm of Hugo Ekitike.
Having taken away a goal from Liverpool, VAR came to the visitors’ aid when it spotted that Alessandro Bastoni had tugged Florian Wirtz’s shirt in the area, with the midfielder flailing to the ground. Szoboszlai converted the penalty.
Bayern’s new star shines
Bayern’s 17-year-old midfielder Lennart Karl produced an audacious bit of skill to continue his high-scoring start to life in the Champions League in a 3-1 win over Sporting Lisbon earlier Tuesday.
Karl scored his third goal in four career Champions League games, controlling a pass from Konrad Laimer in mid-air before volleying a shot from a tight angle over two onrushing defenders and past the goalkeeper.
It was part of a 12-minute, three-goal turnaround for Bayern after Joshua Kimmich’s own-goal handed Sporting the lead after João Simões put Bayern under pressure on the counter.
Serge Gnabry leveled for Bayern when he was left unmarked at a corner in the 65th, before Karl scored Bayern’s second in the 69th and defender Jonathan Tah made it 3-1 in the 77th.
Widely viewed as German soccer’s best young talent this season, Karl became Bayern’s youngest-ever Champions League scorer in October on his first start in the competitions.
Late on, Alphonso Davies came off the bench for the Canadian left back’s first game since March after a serious knee injury.
Chelsea loses
Chelsea was beaten in the Champions League for the first time in nearly three months as Belgium forward Charles De Ketelaere set up the equalizer and scored an 83rd-minute winner as Atalanta came from behind to win 2-1.
Chelsea, which went ahead through Joao Pedro, dropped out of the top eight automatic qualifying spots with its second loss.
It was a fourth win for Atalanta, which climbed to third and is the highest-placed Italian team.
Gianluca Scamacca made it 1-1 by heading home a cross from De Ketelaere, who then drove in a shot that Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez got a hand to but couldn’t keep out.
Koundé drives Barcelona comeback
Headers by Jules Koundé three minutes apart gave Barcelona a 2-1 comeback victory over Eintracht Frankfurt.
Marcus Rashford assisted in the first goal in the 50th and Lamine Yamal in the second in the 53rd.
The visitors had taken the lead with a goal by Ansgar Knauff in a 21st-minute breakaway at the renovated Camp Nou stadium, which still can’t hold full capacity.
Son watches Spurs win
Son Heung-min said a belated goodbye to Tottenham as his former club moved up to ninth after beating Slavia Prague 3-0 on an own goal and two penalties in a game overshadowed by a dispute over moving a rainbow flag showing support for the LGBTQ+ community.
Julián Alvarez scored for the ninth time in his last nine league-phase appearances to lead Atletico Madrid to a 3-2 come-from-behind win at PSV Eindhoven.
Marseille held on for a 3-2 win over Union Saint-Gilloise, whose players and fans twice celebrated what they thought were goals to level the score late on, only for both to be ruled out for narrow offsides on video review.
Folarin Balogun bundled the ball over the line from close range to give Monaco a 1-0 win over Galatasaray.
Olympiakos broke through a determined Kairat Almaty defense to take a 1-0 win in Kazakhstan and boost its hopes of qualifying for the knockout stages. Gelson Martins scored for the Greek side in the 73rd.
