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Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca fears striker Liam Delap’s shoulder injury is “quite bad” after he came off in the 0-0 draw at Bournemouth.
The 22-year-old’s season has gone from bad to worse after he suffered a suspected dislocated shoulder while dragging down Marcos Senesi during a corner.
The incident appeared to stem from Delap engaging in a physical battle with Senesi, having clashed with the Italian off the ball and catching him with a stray hand moments earlier.
When asked about Delap’s latest setback, after he was replaced by teenager Marc Guiu in the 30th minute, Maresca said: “Unfortunately he was already out for two months and he has to be out again.
“We don’t know for how long, but it looks quite bad, his shoulder.”
Delap’s struggles since summer move
Chelsea beat Manchester United, Newcastle and Everton to sign Delap in June.
The Blues activated his £30m release clause, which looked good value after he scored 12 goals in 37 games for relegated Ipswich last season,
He set up a goal on his debut against LAFC at the Club World Cup, and scored in his third appearance against ES Tunis in the group stage of the tournament, which Chelsea won.
However, fellow new signing Joao Pedro took his place after scoring five goals in his first five starts, including an impressive lobbed finish in the 3-0 Club World Cup final win over Paris St-Germain.
With Pedro in favour, Delap then suffered that serious hamstring injury against Fulham in August, which ruled him out for two months.
On his return in the Carabao Cup against Wolves in October, Maresca called his red card for a push on Yerson Mosquera and barge into Emmanuel Agbadou “very stupid” and “embarrassing”.
Delap then apologised to his team-mates publicly and privately, but there are concerns over discipline given he received the joint-most bookings (12) in the Premier League last season.
Another issue for Delap is adapting to Chelsea’s possession-heavy style of play, despite having worked successfully with Maresca in Manchester City’s under-21 title-winning team in 2020-21.
“Liam is a number nine who needs space, needs to attack in behind and fight,” Maresca said last month. “Against teams in a low block, it’s more difficult because there is no space to attack.”
Maresca also said Delap “needed” his first goal of the season, and was relieved when he ended his 13-game drought by scoring the third in a 3-0 win over Barcelona in late November.
Yet Delap remains without a Premier League goal in eight appearances, with just two in 17 matches across all competitions since joining Chelsea.
Bullish Maresca remains unconcerned
Maresca brushed off wider concerns about Chelsea’s attack despite misfiring against Bournemouth.
The Blues had scored in each of their past 13 league matches since the opening day of the season, and their attack remains third behind only Manchester City and Arsenal for xG (expected goals) after 14 games.
“I think it was a game where we lacked a little bit of quality in the final third,” Maresca said. “For me, we made many mistakes. We missed some passes in the final third, moments where we could shoot instead of crossing.
“But yes, overall, when you are not able to win, we said many times that it’s important that we don’t lose.”
On star attacker Cole Palmer, who made his first start since 20 September, Maresca added: “I think Cole was quite good on that, you know – played half an hour the other day, played one hour today.
“So now it’s important that he can build the physical condition.”
That bullish attitude was further matched by a telling response when Maresca was asked if Chelsea’s title hopes were over. “My message after Arsenal was that if in February or March we are where we were, we are in a title race,” he replied.
“It’s a long way, too many games until then, so it’s difficult. But again, the table is so tight. You win two games in a row and you’re there. If you can’t, you drop a little bit.”
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