Chelsea duo Pedro Neto and Moises Caicedo have sent clear messages to Malo Gusto after he returned from injury against Barrow in the Carabao Cup. The France under-21 international has missed the last four weeks with a thigh injury picked up against Crystal Palace before the September international break.
Enzo Maresca initially revealed the issue was not serious, but Gusto returned to Cobham early from international duty and missed fixtures against Bournemouth and West Ham. In his absence, despite having no natural right-back available with captain Reece James injured and suspended, the Blues won both games and kept two clean sheets.
Axel Disasi and Wesley Fofana have both filled in during his injury absence, but he was back in the starting XI for Tuesday’s cup tie at Stamford Bridge. In his 45 minutes on the pitch, Gusto picked up an assist for Christopher Nkunku’s second goal, with Chelsea racing into a 3-0 lead after just 28 minutes.
Following the victory, Maresca was asked about Gusto’s return and if the plan was to bring him off at the interval. “Yes, it was planned,” he said. “In the first-half, Malo went inside on that side and in the second-half, we did the same but on the left side with Chilly inside. But it was planned already.”
With Gusto playing just 45 minutes, he could be named in the starting XI for this weekend’s Premier League clash against Brighton. However, it seems far more likely Fofana keeps his place having impressed at London Stadium with Gusto’s minutes also being carefully managed.
Following his return to action, Gusto posted on Instagram with two of his Chelsea teammates quickly in the comments to express their happiness at him being back. Gusto captioned his post: “Happy to be back [blue heart emoji].” Neto replied: “Vamosss Maloooo [heart eyes emoji].” Caicedo commented with two clapping and fire emojis.
Replacing Gusto for the second half was another returning star in Ben Chilwell. The left-back looked to have played his last game for Chelsea with Enzo Maresca brutally admitting he was not part of his plans, however his stance changed recently with the England international returning to first-team training earlier this month.
On his performance, Maresca said: “Also, very good. It was not easy for Chilly. He didn’t get any minutes this season but he has shown he is there, he is ready and working well. There is not any problem. If we have a chance, we will give him some more minutes in games.”
