Chelsea have an enormous problem in the centre of their midfield. Romeo Lavia and Enzo Fernandez missed Monday night's win against Wolves and there is no clear indication, at the moment, when either will return to action.

Blues' head coach Enzo Maresca said after the game that Lavia's problem is thought to be more serious than Fernandez's, but could not confirm when either midfielder would be fit enough to return. The win against Wolves saw Moises Caicedo feature alongside Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, who would move into the No.10 position with Cole Palmer when the hosts had the ball at Stamford Bridge. The 26-year-old made his first start in the Premier League since signing from Leicester City last summer in a move that cost the Blues around £30million at the time.

Dewsbury-Hall grew into the game but it took a while for the English midfielder to get going in west London - what you would expect from a player that has featured for just 55 minutes in the Premier League going into Monday's match. The midfielder got himself an assist, heading on for Marc Cucurella to put the Blues back ahead in SW6 after Wolves equalised on the brink of half-time.

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While overall it was a largely positive display from Dewsbury-Hall, this weekend may well be a problem for Chelsea. Going away to the reigning champions in Manchester City, albeit a side that have dramatically underperformed this season, the prospect of Lavia and/or Fernandez being absent again is a daunting one for Chelsea supporters.

We await to hear confirmation on the injured duo, with Maresca expected to give an update at his pre-match press conference on Friday. For plenty of Chelsea fans, though, the issues in midfield at the moment have pointed out a clear failure this month from the club's perspective.

Andrey Santos and Lesley Ugochukwu are both on loan at Strasbourg and Southampton, respectively, and are enjoying their time away from Stamford Bridge as they seek for regular first-team minutes. In an ideal world, where Caicedo, Lavia and Fernandez are all fit and available, the two youngsters would not get a look-in at Chelsea, really; so the decision to loan them out certainly wasn't the wrong one.

However, given the current state of the squad, bringing one of them back definitely would do no harm. Also, Lavia has shown during his one-and-a-half seasons at Chelsea that he cannot be trusted in regards to his fitness. The 21-year-old midfielder has missed 55 matches in total since moving to Chelsea from Southampton in the summer of 2023 for a fee that could eventually rise to £58million.

So while the problems Chelsea are facing in the midfield department at the moment are unfortunate, they certainly were not unpredictable. Unless anything drastically changes regarding Lavia and Fernandez, who were both not spotted in the training pictures released on Tuesday, between now and the weekend, then Chelsea's midfield two will seemingly pick itself at the Etihad Stadium.

Renato Veiga has played in the centre of midfield for Chelsea this term but it is looking increasingly likely that the 21-year-old Portugal international will leave the club before the end of the January transfer window. Juventus are in talks with Veiga at the moment, but football.london understands there is nothing advanced on the table yet for the versatile left-back. Veiga was left out of Chelsea's 20-man squad for Monday's match with Wolves amid the ongoing speculation over his future.