Enzo Maresca has ruled Romeo Lavia out of Sunday afternoon's trip to Brentford in the Premier League and the Chelsea head coach has also given an update on Wesley Fofana's fitness.

The reclaimed their position back in the top four of the Premier League table on Thursday night with a 1-0 win over Tottenham but had to do so without and . Maresca confirmed during Wednesday's press conference that Lavia had suffered another setback having only played once since returning from a hamstring injury that sidelined him for over two months.

Fofana is in a similar situation, too, with the Frenchman catching many off guard on Thursday after being omitted from Chelsea's 20-man squad. The 24-year-old defender missed three months with a hamstring problem but returned against Leicester City on March 9. Fofana only managed two appearances before suffering another muscular injury earlier in the week.

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Now, going into Sunday afternoon's match at the Gtech Community Stadium, Maresca will be without both players, who have had torrid times of it at Stamford Bridge in terms of injuries. Speaking to reporters after the Blues' win over Tottenham on Thursday, was not able to elaborate on how long both will be out for but confirmed Fofana will be missing for longer than Lavia.

Asked what happened to Fofana, the Chelsea head coach replied: "Nothing. A muscle problem a few days ago and we are waiting for some more checks."

On Lavia, Maresca said: "No, for Sunday, he is out. We don't know yet [how long he will be unavailable for]. We are waiting for both. Romeo looks a little bit better injury compared to Wes, in terms of probably Romeo can be back earlier than Wes."

Lavia signed for Chelsea in the summer of 2023 in a £58million deal from Southampton but the majority of his time at Stamford Bridge has been spent on the sidelines. The 21-year-old midfielder featured just once during his debut season with the club and while there has been an improvement in that regard this time around, it has still been a disappointing campaign for the Belgium international.

He has spent less than 600 minutes on the pitch this season in 13 appearances in all competitions. Maresca has been extremely cautious with the game time he gives the Belgian, even when he is fit and available, but injuries have followed the midfielder. Next season, though, Maresca is confident he will play more games for the Blues.

"If you compare Romeo's games this season to last season, he's already improved," the Italian explained. "Because this season it was difficult to go the other way. But the target with Romeo is just to try to keep him fit as much as we can.

"The next year he'll play more games than this season. We are trying to do the same. It's not the same situation, but more or less a similar situation with . Reece tonight was on the bench. Reece is our best player, or probably one of our best players."