Romeo Lavia: Chelsea's injury company, the once Liverpool goal, which could be crucial for run-in

After Chelsea's 1-0 victory against Everton, Enzo Maresca made it clear that he saw two very different versions of his team: who with Romeo Lavia in it and without.

“When he is fit, he is one of the best midfielder (the world),” said Maresca about Lavia in his press conference after the game. “He can defend himself very well, he can attack, he can break the line (with the ball) and pass between the lines.”

Unfortunately for Maresca, Chelsea was much more without a lavia when she could call him in his second season at the Stamford Bridge after a debut campaign that was destroyed by injuries. Saturday against Everton was only his 12th appearance in the Premier League in 2024-25, nine of which started.

Since Southampton moved, Lavia has not completed 90 minutes for a fee of £ 53 million. In August 2023 it would be poetic if he finally pursued this milestone against Liverpool, the team that followed him for a large part of this summer window, in the battle for his signature against Chelsea.

Liverpool had identified Lavia as a potential solution for her hole in the base of the midfield, which was created by the drastic decline in Fabinho. Even as a 19-year-old, his serenity and technical polish on the ball had marked him in a fighting Southampton team as the type of press supplement No. 6 who wants every modern elite team.

Lavia has shown an insight into these qualities and showed its value even on relatively limited excursions this season. Chelsea actually loses a little more often during his Premier League minute on the field (nine goals scored 10, but a context is required: Maresca underlined his high opinion about the Belgian by pressing him into his start -xi for big games against Manchester City, Liverpool, Newcastle and Arssenal.

The only two Premier League games that Lavia began in December were a 3-0 mining by Aston Villa an der Stamford Bridge and an exciting 4: 3 fight for bitter rivals Tottenham-Zwei, which are well classified as the two most impressive performance of the Chelsea season. He was characterized in both.

At the beginning of the first half against the villa, a sequence showed the two most outstanding aspects of Lavia's game: his ability to receive and keep the ball under pressure, and his talent to identify and play line break passes that give his team an advantage.

In the 11th minute he took possession of the ball in his own defensive third, held by Jaden, when he dribbled diagonally on the field, and then threaded a perfect pass through a small gap between two midfield players of the villa in the feet of a not marked Cole Palmer in the right half of the room:

Every statistical analysis by Lavia suffers from the problem of the small sample, but these progressive passports already mark it. According to Skillcorner, whose tracking data use a AI model to identify defensive structures and passes that go through, Lavia is one of only seven midfielder with 500 or more minutes in the Premier League this season on average 4.7 or more line passes per 90 minutes.

In order to put this in Chelsea context, Moises Caicedo takes the 10th place with an average of 4.4 line passes per 90 minutes, while Enzo Fernandez took the 15th place with 4.1 per 90 minutes.

Not all conductive passes are the same. Fernandez 'passes broke the last line of opposition defense 18 times this season. Only Cole Palmer (19) did this more often. Lavia's specialty (shown in the graphic below) plays passes through the midfield line of an opponent, mostly in Chelsea teammates who work in the left and right half space:

It is very unlikely that these passports will lead to direct templates, but they are crucial for the attack success of Maresca's system, which is dependent not least on bringing the ball consistently to the players in these half-spaces-mainly Palmer-with time and space in order to make good decisions in the last third of the field.

Lavia is the best player that Chelsea has while playing these special passes, and he is just as capable to play them through opponents who sit deeply like those who push up. Here he is against a conservative Everton, which receives an apparently harmless place from Caicedo, quickly swings his body and rattles the ball between three opponents to Fernandez:

Tottenham's aggressive press in December gave Lavia even more ways to open her midfield line, and he repeated this, even though he only played the first half. The most impressive could have been this sequence shortly before the interval: to get a pass from Benoit Badishile under pressure from Dejan Kulusevski and a first round to Palmer through a gap that did not seem to exist:

Lavia has a sharp understanding with Palmer, which is undoubtedly based on her common story at the Manchester City's Academy. In the middle of the first half against Tottenham, they worked together to torture Pape Matar Sarr.

Maresca believes that a base of Caicedo-Lawia gives its midfield the best balance and explains in November that he appreciates her physicality and strength in the middle of the field. His wish to give Fernandez both to the Bank of the substitute fabrics initially climbed to the bench. Recently, Caicedo has started as a nominal right -back and reversed next to the Belgian into midfield when Chelsea has the ball, with Fernandez opening into the left halfway.

Lavia is more defensive than Fernandez. His aggression in the tackle makes him well suited for a team that tries to restore the ball in the opposition. Here he is against the villa and simply beats Boubacar Kamara a 50:50 ball and a slide that serves as a forward pass for Nicolas Jackson:

When he presented the half-time against Spurs, he expected that the Infield from Son Heung-Min was infected with Sarr, took the ball, drove forward and played a short pass for Jackson:

However, there is a reason why Maresca Lavia sees more as an ideal partner for Caicedo than a sustainable alternative to the Ecuador International. It is more active than defensive, and as the deepest midfielder, his occasional falsifications for the team are more likely to be harmful.

The most memorable example came in the 2-1 win of Chelsea against Leicester City in November. Lavia was introduced instead of Caicedo in the 81st minute and realized too late that he had to be the one who had to defend Bobby de Cordova series, with Levi Colwill the right to pursue Victor Kristansen's run. Stephy Mavidi switched the ball into the box for de Cordova series and Lavia, caught it onto the wrong side and brought it down to admit a penalty:

Tottenham also extended defensively in the first half in December. In the 24th minute, Son initiated a one-two twter with Dominic Solanke and sprinted into the left channel beyond Caicedo. Solanke became Lavia's responsibility, but the Belgian allowed the Cobham graduate to get away from him. Son decided to shoot himself and scored almost a goal, but if he had squadrated the ball to solan, the result would have been an even better chance:

This sequence emphasized some of the wider risks with Maresca's preferred midfield orientation. Caicedo is not a natural right -back and can be susceptible to faster wingers, especially without the injured Wesley Fofana, to defend the large space that was created by its inverting runs. If you with Reece James in this role instead you defensively strengthen Chelsea instead at the expense of weakening the midfield, recovery will exercise a physical tribute.

However, the potential rewards for Lavia are considerable.

Chelsea is more likely to occur in her discouraging Premier League inlet than with a low block defense systems, starting with a visit to Liverpool in Stamford Bridge on Sunday. ANFILD is no regret to miss Lavia. The midfield of Arne Slot was the best in the country this season and especially Ryan Gravenberch was formed in the type of No. 6 that Maresca wants to be Lavia in his team.

A stronger opposition is never a good thing, but aggressive pressing can expand the windows of the Belgian to play these line tips through the midfield. This should also help Palmer, who is looking for rhythm and has been deeper and deeper in the past few weeks to touch the ball.

Last but not least make lavias progressive passaler marescaball for supporters much more guilty – as long as his body holds.

(Toptoto: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)