Enzo Maresca explains Reece James injury scare and provides worrying update on Chelsea defender

Enzo Maresca has provided an injury update on Reece James and Malo Gusto following Chelsea's 2-1 victory over Fulham. Pedro Neto fired the Blues to victory at Craven Cottage on Sunday afternoon - snatching three important points in the race for Champions League qualification.

Alex Iwobi broke the deadlock inside the opening half-an-hour to put Marco Silva's side ahead. Soon after coming on for Nicolas Jackson in the second half, Tyrique George scored the first Premier League goal of his career to level proceedings.

Then, in the final moments of stoppage time, Neto finished off a wonderful 15-pass move, smashing the ball past Bernd Leno. Speaking to reporters after the match, Maresca was asked to provide an update on James, who only played 45 minutes.

The Chelsea head coach said: "Fantastic, very happy because he played 90 minutes two days ago and played again 45, so for us as a team it's an important moment because we can start to think about him every three days and this is fantastic for us because he's our captain.

"He's a main player, a fantastic player, so it's good news. Then it can happen, we conceded the first goal when he lost the ball, it can happen, and the reason why we changed him was not just because he played 90 minutes two days ago, 45 and that was the plan."

Gusto appeared to suffer an injury in the west London derby, coming off for Tosin Adarabioyo in the final minutes. Maresca said: "Unfortunately, it's not a good one.

"A muscle problem and you can see against Ipswich, second half he was inside, changed the game, today he was inside, changed the game, how important is Malo for us, and unfortunately it looks like a muscle injury."

Owing to Neto's winner, Chelsea are still in the race for Champions League qualification. With five games to go, just two points separate Newcastle United in third from Aston Villa in seventh; they sandwich Manchester City, Chelsea and Nottingham Forest, respectively.

"Personally, the goal from Pedro doesn't change my view from the season," said Maresca. "I said three or four days ago and I will repeat, Chelsea in the last two years has never been in a Champions League spot and this season we spent the whole season there.

"So today's win doesn't change my view. It's already a good season and can become very good if we finish in a Champions League spot, no doubt. But, for sure, today was an important win because first of all it's a derby.

"Secondly, it gives us the chance to be there and - probably - was the most difficult win, and the reason why is because they all played yesterday, so for us it was a must-win game.

"And I think after we conceded the goal is the reason why we struggled a bit more because, for the players, it became more difficult and second half we were much better."

Chelsea now have the chance to recharge their batteries before they're back in action. The Blues host Everton at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, April 26, in what is another huge Premier League clash.

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