Lavia making good progress but not quite ready to return from injury

Today at 04:09 AM

Bah, humbug

Roméo Lavia has been ruled out of Thursday's match against Fulham, with the supposedly minor injury he had picked up two weeks ago, during the match against Spurs, now set to keep him out for a second successive league game.

Head coach Enzo Maresca confirmed the news in yesterday's pre-match press conference, adding that Wesley Fofana, Benoît Badiashile, and Reece James will remain out as well (only James is at all close to returning right now among that trio).

"Roméo is still recovering, he's much much better, but unfortunately not ready. Same situation with long-term injuries."

-Enzo Maresca; source: Football.London

Lavia was withdrawn at halftime against Spurs, in what was described primarily as a tactical switch, but also a precautionary move due to a hamstring problem. Unfortunately, that precaution was indeed warranted, and perhaps just a bit too late as that minor hamstring problem will now have cost Lavia at least two games — and perhaps more with games coming thick and fast. (We've had two UEFA Conference League games in the meantime as well, but Lavia was not registered for that phase of the competition anyway.)

After missing practically all of last season with injuries (ankle, hamstring), and also a month earlier this season (another hamstring), we finally got to see what Lavia can bring to the midfield table, so hopefully he recovers quickly and, more importantly, fully. He's made 10 appearances, starting 7 of our 17 Premier League games so far.