Madueke still in coach Maresca’s plans for Chelsea this season despite absence against Fulham on Boxing Day.
Madueke is in contention to face Ipswich despite dropping the England winger for Chelsea’s Boxing Day derby against Fulham.
Madueke was unexpectedly left out of the team for Thursday’s 2-1 loss to their west London rivals, but Maresca had previously benched the 22-year-old. Additionally, after failing to impress the Italian in training, he was benched against Aston Villa at the beginning of the month.
Maresca named two goalkeepers on his bench rather than include Madueke, and explained it was a “technical decision”. He added: “Sometimes we just take a decision and it’s no more than that. Is he in contention for Ipswich? Yeah, for sure.
“The competition has to be higher, but not only for Noni Madueke. Also Renato Veiga was not in the squad and the reason is exactly the same for both of them. There is not any different reason, it’s just a technical decision.”
Madueke returned to the starting lineup three days later at Southampton and scored in a 5-1 win. “Very good, fantastic and he responded very good at that time so there is no more than that,” added Maresca. “I expect the same this time, yeah, absolutely.”
Following Chelsea’s first loss since October, Maresca is expected to make more changes at Portman Road on Monday. The Blues took the lead thanks to Cole Palmer’s 12th goal of the season, but Fulham won their first game at Stamford Bridge since 1979 with to late goals from Harry Wilson and Rodrigo Muniz.
“For sure, after a game you need to go again, no matter the result, especially in this month,” said Maresca. “I think in December, we already played eight or nine games in 25 or 27 days so it’s now important to recover the energy and go again on Monday. If we are going to make one, two or three changes we will see.”