Chelsea3 - 0Aston Villa

The Blues continued their excellent recent form with a commanding performance over the West Midlands outfit with Nicolas Jackson, Enzo Fernandez and Cole Palmer all getting on the scoresheet.

Maresca's side sit in third position in the Premier League table, only denied second spot through alphabetical order with their statistics being identical to Arsenal.

However, Chelsea suffered a blow during the second half when Fofana was forced to be withdrawn with a hamstring issue.

While supporters will be relieved that the 23-year-old has not suffered any injury to his knee after his previous problems, it appears that the France international is due to spend a period on the sidelines having made 12 Premier League starts during 2024-25.

What is Maresca's verdict on Fofana?

Speaking to reporters after the match, Maresca suggested that he would be surprised if Fofana was able to return to action before the end of the year.

As quoted by football.london, the Italian said: ""Unfortunately it is bad news. A hamstring problem. These kind of things usually require three, four, five weeks.

"In this moment, we lose him for 10 or 12 games. In the way he was playing, it's a big loss for us but we have more players and we can find a solution."

He added: "It's a big loss, it's a big loss. He is doing fantastic but it is normal when you play this amount of games.

"Fortunately it was his first injury of the season but we will find a solution."

Who will replace Fofana?

Maresca is seemingly ready to show preference to Benoit Badiashile with the Frenchman having been introduced as Fofana's replacement against Villa.

Badiashile recently impressed versus Leicester City and Heidenheim, putting him ahead of Tosin Adarabioyo and Axel Disasi in the pecking order.

That said, he would be forming a partnership with a fellow left-footed centre-back in Levi Colwill, Maresca left to decide whether he is prepared to accommodate the unusual partnership.