Chelsea injury news: Levi Colwill, Romeo Lavia doubts emerge ahead of Tottenham Hotspur derby

Interim Chelsea head coach Calum McFarlane has suggested that Levi Colwill and Romeo Lavia may miss Tuesday's Premier League fixture against Tottenham Hotspur.

Over the weekend, the Blues suffered a 1-0 defeat to Manchester City in the FA Cup final before appointing Xabi Alonso as their new permanent manager.

However, Chelsea must now focus on their final two Premier League fixtures, aware that victory over Spurs and Sunderland would be enough to secure European qualification for 2025-26.

Given the importance of the double-header, McFarlane will want to select his strongest team possible, but there are a number of lingering injury doubts.

Speaking at a press conference on Monday morning, McFarlane also acknowledged that he was yet to decide whether to select Colwill in the first XI.

McFarlane aware of Colwill risks

Having missed almost the entire season with a serious knee injury, Colwill has starred during successive starts against Liverpool and Man City.

Nevertheless, McFarlane is seemingly conscious of the fact that he does not want to push the England international too hard too soon.

He told reporters: "We need to be careful with Levi. He's performed well in those two games. We'll see how he looks today."

McFarlane was also quizzed on the fitness of Lavia, who missed the FA Cup final, and Reece James and Joao Pedro, the latter who suffered an issue towards the end of the game at Wembley Stadium.

The temporary Blues boss added: "Romeo took a slight knock to the build-up to the game [Saturday's FA Cup final] and we didn't want to take the risk. We just have to be careful."

With regards to James and Pedro, he said: "With all the players, we have to see how they come back in today.

"They were in yesterday. Hopefully it's positive signs today when they report and when they train they feel good and we'll make a decision on that as late as we possibly can."

Why Chelsea should rest Colwill

For Colwill to return from such a long absence and perform to the highest standard has taken many people by surprise. Therefore, it is clear why there is a temptation to start him on Tuesday.

However, this remains a player who played just two Under-21 fixtures before featuring for 250 minutes (added-time included) across three first-team appearances since May 4.

While Chelsea are eager to beat Spurs in a high-profile showdown, no risks should be taken on Colwill on this occasion.

McFarlane said himself during his media briefing that Chelsea have plenty of options at centre-back, so recalling Trevoh Chalobah should be a relatively-easy decision to make.

If Chelsea still have something to play for at Sunderland on Sunday, Colwill could return for that fixture.

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