Enzo Maresca admits he "likes" Marc Guehi but has played down any talk of the England defender returning to Chelsea this month.

Guehi came through Chelsea's academy but made just two first-team appearances for the Blues before joining Swansea City on loan and then moving to Crystal Palace on a permanent deal.

The 24-year-old, who was the subject of several bids from Newcastle United in the previous transfer window, has been linked with a move back to his old club, with Chelsea reportedly monitoring him after he entered the final 18 months of his Palace contract.

Among Palace defenders this season, Guehi has made the most blocks (16), the joint-second most interceptions (19, level with Trevoh Chalobah, on loan from Chelsea), and won the second-most duels (102).

Chelsea are struggling with injuries at centre-back, with Wesley Fofana and Benoit Badiashile both long-term absentees, but Maresca insists the club will not rush into the transfer market.

"The only thing I can say is Marc Guehi is a Palace player," Maresca said ahead of Chelsea's FA Cup tie with Morecambe. "I like Marc for sure, but he is not our player.

"I also like the centre-halves we have, and I like different central defenders in Italy, Spain and France, but that doesn't mean we are going to buy the player.

"It is a normal situation when you have these central defender injuries that there's speculation there. There's nothing there."

Maresca also confirmed he was planning to leave both Ben Chilwell and Cesare Casadei out of their FA Cup squad.

Chilwell has made just one appearance under Maresca, in the EFL Cup, with the Italian hinting the left-back could be on his way out this month.

"Chilwell, I think, is thinking in this moment he is probably going to leave, so it's better to avoid to use him to avoid this kind of situation, injury or those kinds of things," Maresca added.

"It's more or less the same [for Casadei]. In this moment, the plan is to not allow him minutes in case there is an opportunity for him to go and play."

Chelsea's defensive work has been under the spotlight in recent weeks as the Blues have lost ground on Liverpool in the Premier League after failing to win any of their last four games (D2 L2).

They have conceded three goals in the 80th minute or later during that run, but Maresca said he was not concerned about this recent trend.

"No, the players don't switch off [at the end of games]," he said. "During the season you have movements where you score at the end, and you have moments where you concede at the end.

"Just like you have moments where you score goals from set-pieces and moments you concede from set-pieces.

"Hopefully, it is just a moment, and we can avoid that, and we start scoring in the final minutes so we can get a good feeling from that."