The playmaker has missed out on competitive action since playing a key role in our UEFA Europa League semi-final, first leg at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on 1 May, 2025. ‘Madders’ was on fire that night, adding to Brennan Johnson’s early header as we stormed into what turned out to be an unassailable lead, 2-0 in the first half with Dominic Solanke adding the third from the penalty spot in the second half.
However, the England international was substituted on 65 minutes with a knee injury that ruled him out for the rest of the season – that meant he missed our final triumph in Bilbao last May.
Madders returned in pre-season off the bench against Arsenal in Hong Kong on 31 July but disaster struck in our next friendly on tour against Newcastle – Heung-Min Son’s farewell – on 3 August. Entering the fray on 75 minutes, Madders went down clutching his knee 10 minutes later. Stretchered off, it was eventually confirmed he needed surgery on his ACL.
After all the pain of his injury setbacks and the hard graft of recovery, Madders returned to the bench against Brighton on 18 April - Roberto De Zerbi’s second game in charge. After three matches as an unused substitute, his number 10 finally went up with 85 minutes on the clock against Leeds on Monday night.
In fact, Madders played for 18 minutes with 13 minutes of added time, bringing that trademark control to proceedings, getting on the ball and trying to make things happen. And it looked like he’d done just that in the final seconds as he took on Lukas Nmecha in the box – Madders went tumbling but as the 62,000 fans screamed for a penalty, a VAR check showed Nmecha got the slightest touch on the ball – no penalty – it stayed 1-1.
So, after 375 days out, Madders is back for our final two fixtures of 2025/26 - Chelsea at Stamford Bridge next Tuesday night (19 May, 8.15pm UK) and the finale at home to Everton on Sunday week (24 May, 4pm UK).
Speaking afterwards, Roberto was asked about Madders’ return. "It's great news for us,” he said. “He is a different player as a quality, as a guy and he will be I hope crucial for us. Yesterday (Sunday), I spoke with him about his physical condition, about how many minutes he could play. He played more than what he said yesterday. We are happy for him. I think we are in the right way.”