To describe Romeo Lavia's three years at Chelsea as 'unfortunate' would be underselling it somewhat.

Since signing from Southampton in August 2023 for a £58million total package, the Belgium international has been stung - and then some - by consistent injury problems. Most of them have been to do with his hamstring.

There had been a remarkable statistic, an unwanted one from Lavia's point of view, following the Chelsea midfielder around. Going into Wednesday evening's penalty shootout defeat away at Liverpool, Lavia had never completed a full 90 minutes - in a competitive fixture - for the Blues, but he can wave goodbye to that tag now.

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In the midst of a dramatic evening at Anfield, Chelsea supporters can be forgiven if they missed the fact Lavia completed the full 90 minutes. In the early stages of the campaign, the 22-year-old has shown signs of turning a corner in relation to his injury woes. Touch wood, of course.

Chelsea, though, will continue to be cautious with Lavia; it seems unlikely he will start against Manchester United on Saturday afternoon given the tight turnaround between the two matches.

Either way, this feels like a massive turning point for Lavia and an enormous boost for manager Xabi Alonso, who knows he can call on the midfielder to play full matches. Lavia was one of the Blues' stronger performers on Wednesday evening and showed no clear signs of fatigue despite being given more responsibility than usual.

While it seems unlikely that Lavia will be named in the XI at the weekend, Alonso hinted at a problem for Moises Caicedo when addressing the media after the defeat to Liverpool.

When asked to explain his decision not to bring on Estevao Willian, Alonso said: "The game had very intense moments, we knew that it was going to be physical, and after that we had to deal with Moi, he had little problems, Malo as well, he had cramps."

Alonso will discover more in relation to Caicedo today (Thursday) and on Friday before making the call whether to start Chelsea's star midfielder against Man United.

Elsewhere, Jordan Henderson is expected to start his sixth consecutive match when United come to west London at the weekend. Despite being 36 years old, Henderson has shown incredible energy and stamina over the last few weeks - with the former Liverpool captain playing every possible minute in Chelsea's five most recent outings.

Cole Palmer is expected to return to Chelsea's attack against the club he supported as a boy. The 24-year-old served his one-match suspension against Liverpool on Wednesday after being shown two quickfire yellow cards in the defeat to Tottenham last weekend.

Joao Pedro, however, has been ruled out. Alonso expects Chelsea's top goal scorer to be out for a "few weeks" and when asked by football.london if that means he won't be available for the Blues until after the next international break, the Spaniard said, "probably".

Maxence Lacroix will be assessed in the next couple of days after the Chelsea central defender limped off at Anfield with a hamstring issue. The France international is now a doubt for the Man United clash after being unable to continue on Merseyside.