Relief for Chelsea! Blues star given green light to remain with England Under-21s after hobbling off with injury in win over Ireland

The Blues have been navigating a difficult run with injuries. Pedro Neto was forced to withdraw from Portugal duty with a groin complaint he suffered shortly after scoring against Wolves. Cole Palmer, meanwhile, is not expected to be fit anytime soon and will miss the next couple of fixtures. Mykhailo Mudryk remains unavailable due to his provisional suspension following a positive doping test last year. It is a situation that has left Maresca short of natural wide players. With such a lengthy list of absentees, the prospect of losing Gittens would have been another significant blow.

The winger is gradually finding his feet in the English top flight, and former Chelsea forward Florent Malouda is confident that he will shine after the adaptation period.

"It’s a learning process," Malouda told in an interview with The Athletic. "When you are so young and join a club like Chelsea, you have to build your confidence. It is part of the journey. The talent is there (with Gittens), it is how you are able to perform at this level. When you are young, you have to be fearless, that is the only way.

"The club believes in him, it is just how he is able to prove to the people at the club who put their trust in him that he belongs to this club. The beauty of football is that with one goal, one assist, a sparkle from Jamie, you can turn things around. You should also believe that you can do it and deliver on a regular basis. He can light the stadium on fire with one goal, and then it starts."

Alejandro Garnacho seems to have found his rhythm in attack. He started against Wolves and delivered one of his most mature performances. His work without the ball drew particular admiration from Maresca, who highlighted the young forward’s evolution since arriving from a club where his training standards, according to the Italian, had not been at their peak.

"Garna played a fantastic game on the ball," Maresca said. "But he was also top without the ball. Pedro Neto was exactly the same, and this is what we need from our wingers. He [Garnacho] arrived here from another club where he was not training 100 per cent, so his physical condition was not good. Slowly, slowly [we have worked on that] and now it's better. He is doing very well on the ball and is doing well off the ball. He knows that, to play with us, he has to be good on the ball and off the ball. We are very happy with him in this moment."

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