It is clear to see Enzo Maresca does not really like the questions around whether or not Chelsea are too reliant on Cole Palmer. Understandably so.
For Maresca, his job is to build a winning machine at Stamford Bridge; a team of players hungry for every success possible. So when someone describes, or asks a question about, Chelsea as a one-man team, it can become offensive to a manager working tirelessly to build the opposite.
Of course, Palmer's contributions are very welcome for Maresca. The truth is, however, there have not been many of them recently. The 22-year-old is 10 matches without a goal in all competitions and his last assist came in the 2-1 defeat to Brighton in the FA Cup more than a month ago. Palmer is still crucial in attacking situations for Chelsea, though, and the prospect of losing him for an extended period of time through injury is a daunting one to say the least.
Palmer will have his scan today on a "muscular injury", as Maresca clarified on Sunday, he suffered in training on Saturday - 24 hours before Chelsea were due to travel to the Emirates Stadium to face Arsenal. He will almost certainly miss the two England matches over the international break, with Morgan Gibbs-White called up on Sunday evening; presumably in place of the injured Blues star.
Maresca said he was hopeful Palmer will be back for the first game after the two-week break, at home to Tottenham, but he will not know until he gets the results from his scan. In what is such an integral part of the campaign for Chelsea, losing Palmer now - regardless of the form he has showed of late - would be a significant blow, as they continue to their fight to finish in the top five, which should be enough to get them Champions League football next season, of the Premier League and aim to triumph in the Conference League.
If all goes to plan for Chelsea, there will be 12 matches left to go in all competitions this season - and that is before you mention the newly-formatted FIFA Club World Cup that starts in June. Everyone involved at Chelsea will be hoping Palmer will be available for every single one of those games.
Santos feeling is perfectly clear
Andrey Santos is perhaps one of the most talked about loanees in Chelsea's history. The 20-year-old midfielder has been thriving - and then some - for Strasbourg in the French league this season. Many questioned the Blues' decision to loan him out last summer but regardless of what you believe he could have added at Stamford Bridge this term, this has been an exceptional year in the Brazilian's development.
So much so that Strasbourg boss Liam Rosenior described Santos as the "best midfielder" in the top-flight of France at the weekend, with the Chelsea loanee scoring a peach of a goal in the 2-1 victory over Toulouse. "Andrey is the best midfielder in the league for me," Rosenior said. "He deserved a goal. He's everywhere on the pitch, in both areas. The goal reflects the player and the season he's having."
That was Santos' ninth goal of the campaign for Chelsea's sister club in all competitions, while he has also provided three assists in 26 appearances. He is just short of averaging a direct goal contribution in every other game and Chelsea supporters have looked on with glee and excitement, but also with some envy given some of the struggles the club have had with depth in the centre of midfield this season.
Either way, Santos will be a Chelsea player next season. The club plan to use the Brazilian throughout the 2025/26 campaign, sources have confirmed to football.london, as Maresca and his players look to kick on from what has been an up and down debut season for the Italian.
Maresca's clear James hope
Reece James will be working with former Chelsea head coach Thomas Tuchel over the next fortnight as the German takes his first camp as England manager. James played 74 games across all competitions when Tuchel was in the dugout at Stamford Bridge for just 18 months and the two remained close even after the former Blues boss left the club.
Maresca may well be a bit concerned with James being called up to the Three Lions squad for their upcoming matches against Albania and Latvia. The two games come within three days of each other and the Chelsea head coach will be hoping James is not used in both of them - as that would go against the way the club have been handling his delicate situation with injuries this season.
The England international has had such a difficult time with his fitness over recent years, with muscular injuries plaguing his playing time enormously at Stamford Bridge. Due to this, Maresca has been trying to use James once a week when possible and never more, unless it is a cameo appearance against Copenhagen and then a start against Arsenal - like we have seen over the last few days. There has never been too much asked of James, though, in terms of minutes on the pitch.
It has been similar for Romeo Lavia and Wesley Fofana, who have both recently returned from lengthy spells out of action with hamstring injuries. Neither of those two, though, have been selected by their national teams in what is undoubtedly a boost for Maresca as he now has two weeks in Cobham to work with the duo before the final stretch of the season.
Singing section at Stamford Bridge
In a bid to improve the atmosphere from the home supporters at Stamford Bridge, something that has been commented on by Maresca, a group of Chelsea fans planned a 'coordinated singing section' in the Shed End for Thursday evening's win against Copenhagen in the Conference League. A group of around 120 people were in said section and created some noise in what was a fairly drab affair in SW6.
An X account called @WeAre_TheShed, "a movement gathering Chelsea supporters who sit in The Shed to create displays & improve the atmosphere", organised the section and are planning similar in the future in order to raise the noise inside Stamford Bridge. The next trial will be in the Conference League quarter-final second-leg against Legia Warsaw next month with 150 season ticket holders.
In a post online, they said: "Positive discussions have been held with the club over the future of this project which has been received well internally. Space used for this section is not available for Premier League matches. This is just the beginning."
Essugo ready for Club World Cup
Over the weekend, Chelsea agreed a £18.5million deal to sign Dario Essugo from Sporting CP with the midfielder signing for the Blues on a seven-year contract. Essugo will join Chelsea in time for the FIFA Club World Cup that takes place in the United States over the summer.
football.london understands Moises Caicedo will remain first-choice at Stamford Bridge next season and is rated extremely highly by those inside the club. Essugo has similar attributes to the Ecuadorian and will add to the depth of the squad in Maresca's second season in charge.
Chelsea also sealed the deal to sign Geovany Quenda last week from Sporting. The 17-year-old talent will arrive in SW6 in the summer of 2026 for a fee in the region of £40million. Quenda has signed a seven-year deal at Stamford Bridge with the option of a further 12 months.