Cole Palmer is in contention to return to the Chelsea starting lineup against Brentford on Saturday after resuming training during the international break.
Chelsea will aim to continue the unbeaten start to the 2025/26 season when they lock horns with Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday night. Enzo Maresca has received a positive update on the team news front ahead of his side’s latest fixture.
Cole Palmer has resumed training after missing the last two games due to a groin injury. However, Maresca is without several long-term absentees, as Levi Colwill, Dario Essugo, and Liam Delap are unavailable for the foreseeable future.
Additionally, Benoit Badiashile and Romeo Lavia remain sidelined, while Mykhailo Mudryk is still serving a suspension after failing a doping test several months ago. Meanwhile, during his pre-match press conference, Maresca provided fitness updates on Palmer and Delap.
“Cole took part in a session yesterday for the first time – but not the entire session. Today in the afternoon, we have one more session, and we are going to try with him and see if he is ok. Otherwise, he will be out tomorrow again. He had an injury, but he has recovered from the injury.”
“So it wasn’t about managing him; it was him recovering from the injury. From the moment he is available, we have to think about how to manage him a little bit because of the amount of games [we have coming]. Liam is around 10-12 weeks, so a long way to go.”
Meanwhile, Maresca discussed Alejandro Garnacho’s progress after he completed a late summer move. The Chelsea boss said, “He’s working well. For sure, he needs to work because he arrived here not 100 per cent fit, but he is working well, and hopefully soon we can give him minutes. He’s a player who can help us. We have so many competitions, so many games, that for sure he is going to play games for us.”
Maresca’s comments suggest Garnacho will not be fit enough to start against Brentford. So, Pedro Neto and Estevao Willian will start on the flanks, with Marc Guiu leading the line for the away side and Joao Pedro reprising the no. 10 role. Palmer will be a backup option on the bench. Meanwhile, Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo should pair up in the double pivot, even though they returned late from international duty.
The backline will unlikely witness any surprises, with Reece James, Trevoh Chalobah, Tosin Adarabioyo, and Marc Cucurella completing the defensive quartet. Finally, Robert Sanchez will retain his spot between the sticks.
Predicted Chelsea XI: Sanchez; James, Chalobah, Tosin, Cucurella; Caicedo, Fernandez; Estevao, Joao Pedro, Neto; Guiu