Leeds United head to Stamford Bridge next week in a quick turnaround for both them and Chelsea.
Chelsea boss Liam Rosenior insists Cole Palmer is still having to be carefully managed ahead of next week’s quick-turnaround midweek clash against Leeds United.
Having played the full 90 minutes of a 3-2 win over West Ham last weekend, Palmer was unable to start Chelsea’s Carabao Cup semi-final second-leg defeat at Arsenal on Tuesday evening. The attacking midfielder’s 2025/26 campaign has been plagued by injury and he managed just 29 minutes off the bench.
Chelsea have a similar turnaround on the horizon, travelling to Wolves on Saturday before the Tuesday-evening visit of Leeds to Stamford Bridge. And with Palmer still having to be carefully managed, Whites fans will have a keen eye on the Blues starting-XI at Molineux.
“Cole gave us an incredible 90-minute performance at the weekend when we fought back against West Ham,” Rosenior told London World following Tuesday night’s defeat. “He’s a gem, we have to take care of him and make sure he’s ready for the whole of the season.
“But when he came on, his moments were top. So all in all we're disappointed not to go through, albeit against a very good team, but we can’t let this set-back affect our future.”
Reece James and Pedro Neto also missed Tuesday’s Carabao Cup defeat at the Emirates, having both only come off the bench at West Ham last weekend. And Rosenior confirmed the pair were carrying small issues, with a race against time to be fit either for Wolves or next week against Leeds.
Reece James and Pedro Neto injury latest ahead of Leeds United
“Pedro and Reece have small knocks,” the Chelsea head coach said. “They were just in too much pain for tonight. They are giving everything, they would always put their hand up to play. Reece is an incredible captain and leader, Pedro’s an outstanding professional and player.”
With FA Cup, Carabao Cup and Champions League commitments all arriving through January, Chelsea have had a very busy start to 2026. While Tuesday’s Stamford Bridge meeting will be game number nine of the year for Leeds, their hosts Chelsea will be heading into their 12th fixture.
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“The availability of your players always affects your system,” he added. “The opposition’s system, where you are in terms of your fitness levels, in terms of the intensity levels we’ve put into games.
“Against West Ham we battled until the 97th minute trying to get ourselves back from 2-0 down. The emotions of Napoli [a 3-2 away win]. You take all of these things into account to give yourselves the best chance to try to win a game of football.”
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