It is now game week. Chelsea are back in action later this week as the Blues travel to Leicester City for match day 12 of the Premier League season.

, who is returning to the King Power Stadium where he spent last season lifting the Foxes back into the top-flight, has the opportunity to lead his team to within one point of Manchester City in second-place. City play later in the evening at home to Tottenham, with 's team losing their last four matches in all competitions before the international break.

It has been an excellent start to life at Stamford Bridge for Maresca but the former Leicester manager knows that the upcoming period of fixtures is absolutely integral to how Chelsea fare this season. As soon as the first whistle is blown on Saturday afternoon, that will be Chelsea's first of 12 matches in just 42 days in all competitions.

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So, the Italian will be hoping he can keep the majority of the squad fit and healthy for this physically and mentally demanding run of fixtures - something he has managed well so far. However, going into Saturday afternoon's trip to Leicester, the Chelsea head coach faces a potential crisis when it comes to his options in midfield.

limped off in the second-half of the Blues' 1-1 draw with Arsenal before the international break. The 20-year-old midfielder, who missed almost the entirety of last season because of injuries, travelled to meet up with the rest of the Belgium squad because of a hamstring issue.

Speaking before the Israel defeat on Sunday evening where Lavia once again was not named in the squad, under-fire Belgium manager Domenico Tedesco said: "Some players had problems immediately after the [last] game, and we already knew in the evening that they would not be available. Then there were injuries today like Romeo Lavia."

Lavia has been Maresca's go-to man in the last four Premier League outings. The Belgian has been used in the centre of midfield alongside ; leaving out of the picture as Maresca looks to find more balance in his side.

"It's a matter of balance. Romeo and Moi give us physicality and strength in the middle," Maresca replied recently when asked why Lavia is starting ahead of Fernandez at the moment. "This is why we found the option of Malo [Gusto] in the pocket.

"Otherwise, when we play with Enzo it has to be with one of Moi or Romeo, and Enzo moves forward we struggle in the middle for physicality. At the moment that’s something Moi and Romeo give us, but it doesn’t mean for one game we can’t play with Joao [Felix] and Cole [Palmer] in the pocket. It depends on the game."

Either way, there could well be some problems with the South American duo of Fernandez and Caicedo as well. Caicedo's Ecuador take on Colombia at 11pm (UK time) on Tuesday evening, while Fernandez's Argentina take on Peru an hour later. Then, the Chelsea duo are likely to fly back to the UK immediately after their respective matches.

This means, after the long flights back, the midfield duo are not set to appear back at Cobham until Thursday at the very earliest. Even then, they may need to sit out of the session as they get their body clocks back to normal with the club always putting the players' welfare first. Meaning - if worst comes to worst - they will have just one session at Chelsea's training base before Saturday afternoon's trip to Leicester.