Noni Madueke was nowhere to be seen as Chelsea beat Morecambe (Photo: Getty)
Enzo Maresca has revealed why Noni Madueke missed Chelsea’s 5-0 FA Cup win over Morecambe on Saturday.
Chelsea advanced to the fourth round of the cup thanks to braces from Tosin Adarabioyo and Joao Felix, while Christopher Nkunku also got on the scoresheet after having a penalty saved in the first-half.
As expected, Maresca rotated his side heavily with rare starts handed to Reece James, Renato Veiga, Tyrique George and Marc Guiu.
But there was one player who was notably absent at Stamford Bridge: Madueke, who did not even make the bench for the Blues.
The England winger has been in decent form this season, with six goals and four assists in 22 appearances so far, and there was no indication in the build-up to the Morecambe clash that he had picked up an injury.
Just a few weeks ago, Maresca had omitted Madueke from his squad that played Fulham because of ‘technical decision’, leading to speculation the pair had had a falling out.
But the Chelsea head coach has clarified that the 22-year-old missed Saturday’s cup game because of illness.
Chelsea are through to the fourth round of the FA Cup (Photo: Getty)
‘Yesterday he didn’t finish the session because he was unwell,’ Maresca said of Madueke in his post-match press conference.
It remains to be seen whether Madueke will be fit enough to feature in Chelsea’s next game on Tuesday night when they host high-flying Bournemouth in the Premier League.
The Blues are dealing with a few injury issues, with Wesley Fofana, Benoit Badiashile and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall all sidelined, while Mykhailo Mudryk is suspended.
Their absence and team rotation didn’t affect the performance against Morecambe too much, with centre-back Tosin looking especially impressive.
‘It’s a little bit the picture of the game. He was most of the time the only one with space,’ Maresca said of the defender.
‘He was the only one that could carry the ball. We are happy for him.
‘He can do that [strike a ball that well]. The only thing with a central defender, you struggle to see him at the edge of the box.’
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