Chelsea will be sweating on the fitness of Cole Palmer for Sunday’s crunch clash against Arsenal (4:30pm kick-off).
The Blues, who will host Mikel Arteta’s side at Stamford Bridge, salvaged a late point against Manchester United last time out while Arsenal fell to defeat at Newcastle United. In midweek, Chelsea had a far more successful night than Arsenal by thrashing FC Noah 8-0 in the Europa Conference League.
As for the Gunners, they fell to a 1-0 loss at the hands of Inter Milan in Italy. For Sunday’s game, Enzo Maresca is expected to rotate his starting XI and select regular Premier League starters, who are being limited to just one game a week.
The likes of Tosin Adarabioyo, Marc Guiu, Axel Disasi and Joao Felix could make an appearance off the bench while Nicolas Jackson, Noni Madueke, Romeo Lavia, Wesley Fofana and Pedro Neto are set to be named in the starting XI.
But whether the Blues will have Palmer in the team, remains to be seen. Maresca confirmed Palmer is getting better after picking up a knee injury against United last Sunday.
“He’s better. He’s getting better. If he can walk and have dinner, that doesn’t mean he is completely fit. He’s getting better. Hopefully we can have him for the session at least on Saturday and then we can take a decision,” the Blues boss said.
Meanwhile, Jadon Sancho has missed the last four Chelsea games for a number of reasons. Illness saw him miss the Carabao Cup clash against Newcastle and his absence at Old Trafford was due to being ineligible to face his parent club.
A knock also kept him out of the Conference League clash. “He is recovering from [illness]. He had a knock in the session,” Maresca added. “He is out for tomorrow, and we will see if he is available [this weekend] or after the international break.”
As for Enzo Fernandez, he was withdrawn by Maresca at half-time with the coach confirming it was just a ‘technical decision.’
