Is Romeo Lavia injured again?! Chelsea explain absence of £53m star against Wolves after seeing him make just three appearances since big-money transfer

Lavia was a surprise absentee from Chelsea's squad for their Premier League game against Wolves on Sunday. The 20-year-old produced a bright display in the Blues' 2-0 defeat to Manchester City last weekend but wasn't included in the 20-man squad for the match at Molineux, leading to fears he'd picked up an injury.

Those fears were realised when Maresca confirmed the midfielder, who has made just three appearances for Chelsea since arriving from Southampton last August, was missing with a hamstring "irritation". But thankfully for the club's supporters, it's not serious and the Italian simply didn't want to risk Lavia, with the return leg of their Europa Conference League playoff tie with Servette to come on Thursday.

"He has a small problem with his hamstring, an irritation but nothing that is a major problem," Maresca said before the match. "It's nothing serious but one that we didn't want to risk."

Chelsea were comfortably beaten by City in their opening league game of the season, and made to sweat in the first leg of their eventual 2-0 win against Servette. But a run of more comfortable fixtures might allow Maresca's side to find their rhythm, starting with the Wolves match.