![\"Enzo](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/0_GettyImages-2214558165.jpg\")
Enzo Maresca has previewed his side’s clash with Manchester United.(Image: Darren Walsh\/Chelsea FC via Getty Images.)<\/p>\nMan United will be eyeing a rare Premier League victory when they face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Friday night.Enzo Maresca has previewed his side’s clash with Manchester United.(Image: Darren Walsh\/Chelsea FC via Getty Images.)<\/p>\n
Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca has confirmed captain Reece James will be available for Friday night’s Premier League<\/a> clash with Manchester United<\/a>.<\/p>\n The England international had emerged as a doubt for the clash with Ruben Amorim’s<\/a> side in the capital after missing two training sessions through illness.<\/p>\n However he trained on Wednesday and is set to be part of Maresca’s plans.<\/p>\n Speaking to the media on Thursday morning, Maresca said: “Reece James is now okay, he was out with illness for two [training] sessions. Yesterday he had a session with us, which is good.”<\/p>\n However, the Blues chief will be light on firepower at the top end of the pitch after Nicolas Jackson was sent-off in last Sunday’s 2-0 defeat Newcastle United. He was shown a straight red card not long before half-time after a needless forearm smash on Newcastle defender Sven Botman.<\/p>\n With Christopher Nkunku still out injured, Maresca has admitted he is light on options to spearhead his team’s attack.<\/p>\n “We don’t have Nico for this game and we are working on that,” Maresca continued. “These are the options we have, unfortunately we don’t have many options [to play as a striker].”<\/p>\n The Chelsea<\/a> chief has also addressed how he and his team plan to approach the game, pointing to the task of coming up against a United team that will feature three centre-backs and two wing-backs.<\/p>\n He added: “When playing against a line of five, I prefer to have a ‘real’ nine because you need to attack behind, you need that threat.<\/p>\n “Unfortunately, we don’t have that so we need to find a solution. I like a ‘false’ nine when we face a line of four, because you can link a little more.<\/p>\n “But against five defenders, you need people running in behind. But it is what it is, and we need to find a different solution.”<\/p>\n Here at the Manchester Evening News, we’re dedicated to bringing you the best Manchester United coverage and analysis.<\/p>\n Make sure you don’t miss out on the latest United news by joining our free WhatsApp group. You can get all the breaking news and best analysis sent straight to your phone by clicking here<\/strong><\/a> to subscribe.<\/p>\n You can also subscribe to our free newsletter service. Click here<\/strong><\/a> to be sent all the day’s biggest stories.<\/p>\n And finally, if you’d rather listen to our expert analysis then make sure to check out our Manchester is Red podcast, featuring The Samuel Luckhurst Show and The Midweek Debate. Our shows are available on all podcast platforms, including Spotify<\/strong><\/a> and Apple Podcasts<\/strong><\/a>, and you can also watch along on YouTube<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Man United will be eyeing a rare Premier League victory when they face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":103333,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,6274,393,4884,2465,423,11507,101,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-103332","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-chelsea-fc","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-manchester","13":"tag-manchester-united-fc","14":"tag-manchester-united-fixtures","15":"tag-premier-league","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114511514736042431","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103332\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}