Enzo Maresca has revealed Noni Madueke will be back in contention for Chelsea's clash against Ipswich Town after being left out of the defeat to Fulham. The head-coach said the winger's absence was nothing more than a "technical decision" after being asked about the young star's training levels.

The 22-year-old was missing from the Blues' squad that was beaten at home to west London rivals Fulham on Boxing Day - much to many people's surprise. Madueke has started 13 matches for Chelsea in the Premier League this season but was not chosen against the Cottagers.

After the match, Maresca confirmed it was a "technical decision" to leave the England international out but has insisted it had nothing to do with his training levels with the head coach publicly critical of the winger's work ethic already this season. At the start of December, Maresca explained how he left Madueke out of the squad in the win against Aston Villa because of his dissatisfaction with the winger's training.

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However, as Maresca said on Thursday evening, that is not the reason he missed the Fulham defeat. "No [nothing to do with his training or recent performances]. It is just a technical decision. Sometimes we take a decision and it's no more than that."

Asked if Madueke would be in contention to face Ipswich Town on Monday evening, Maresca sent the winger a clear message: "Yeah, for sure, for sure."

Maresca is also expecting an emphatic response from the former PSV Eindhoven winger after being left out of the squad again. Going back to the start of the month when Madueke was dropped and criticised publicly by his head coach, the winger responded with a tremendous performance away at Southampton a few days later.

"Fantastic. Very good. He responded very good at that time, so there is no more than that." Asked if he expects the same this time, the head coach responded: "Yeah, absolutely."

The Boxing Day defeat to Fulham was Chelsea's third loss of the Premier League season, so Maresca finds himself in a situation he is not accustomed to. With such a short turnaround before Monday evening's trip to Portman Road, the Chelsea head coach spoke about how he expects to make changes to the team that lost to their west London neighbours.

"For sure, after a game, you need to go again no matter the result," Maresca said. "Especially this month; I think in December, we already played eight or nine games in 25 or 27 days.

"So now it is also important to recover the energy and go again on Monday and then if we are going to make one change, two changes or three changes, we will see. Now it is a bit early but for sure, we are going to change something."