Chelsea defender Wesley Fofana could miss the entire festive period with a hamstring injury in a major defensive blow to Enzo Maresca’s side.
Fofana was forced off midway through the second half in Sunday’s 3-0 victory over Aston Villa, with manager Maresca suggesting afterwards that the centre-back could miss “at least three, four, five weeks”.
The Frenchman has started all but one of the Blues’s Premier League matches so far this season, missing only the defeat to Liverpool at Anfield because of suspension.
He has formed a promising partnership with Levi Colwill at the heart of the Chelsea defence, though the clean sheet against Villa was the club’s first in eight league matches.
“Unfortunately, it’s bad news,” Maresca said of Fofana’s setback. “It’s a hamstring problem. These kind of things require at least three, four, five weeks. In this moment, you lose 10 games or 12 games.
“In the way he was playing, it’s a big loss for us. But we have more players and we’ll try to find solutions.”
Fofana missed the entirety of last season with a serious knee injury and the Blues have tried to be cautious with his workload this term, leaving him out of their squad for the Conference League group stage.
The 23-year-old’s injury adds to Maresca’s issues at the back, with Reece James already sidelined with yet another hamstring problem of his own.
“It’s a big loss,” Maresca added. “He’s been doing fantastic but it’s normal when you play this amount of games and fortunately it’s his first injury this season. But we’re going to find solutions.”
