Injured Chelsea starter to return early ahead of Arsenal clash | OneFootball

Chelsea defender Wesley Fofana is set to make a surprise early return from injury this week, putting him in line for involvement against Arsenal next month.

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Chelsea defender Wesley Fofana had previously been considered a doubt to face Arsenal on March 16th, with wildly varying estimates on when he might return to action.

When the centre-back first suffered his injury on December 1st, he was expected to miss around five weeks. Manager Enzo Maresca later stated that Fofana could be out for the season, but then scaled that prognosis back in recent press conferences.

Speaking less than a fortnight ago on February 13th, Maresca claimed Fofana would need “at least two or three weeks working before he can be ready to play”. Once again, it seems that estimate was off.

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Fabrice Hawkins reports that Fofana is back with the Chelsea squad for Tuesday night’s match against Southampton, at least a few days ahead of Maresca’s most optimistic schedule.

The 24-year-old now looks to have a very good chance of being fully fit and ready to start by the time Chelsea travel to the Emirates Stadium on March 16th.

Chelsea will still be without some potential starters, including strikers Nicolas Jackson and Marc Guiu, winger Noni Madueke, and midfielder Romeo Lavia. Mykhailo Mudryk also remains suspended. But the rest of their squad are currently set to be available to face the Gunners.

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Whether Fofana is actually in the Chelsea squad on Tuesday night remains to be seen, as it’s not uncommon for players to rejoin the travelling matchday squad before they’re actually fit to make the bench.

But it certainly looks as though the defender is ahead of schedule and in line to play matches in March.