Main man: Cole Palmer
Chelsea Football Newsletter
The world champions face Crystal Palace at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, but lost a key starting player when Levi Colwill suffered an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury during training.
The 23-year-old will miss the majority of the 2025-26 season and Maresca has said he would like to see the club react by signing a new defender in response.
That was after they did add to their armoury in defence by agreeing an initial £37million deal to sign Jorrel Hato from Ajax. The youngster can play at left-back or centre-back and has featured in pre-season.
Meanwhile, Trevoh Chalobah and Tosin Adarabioyo can stake a claim for game time too, so Maresca has some selection decisions to make. Wesley Fofana could also make a return to Premier League action for the visit of Palace, and he is seen by many as a key defender for the Blues when he is fit.
Chalobah hobbled off against Milan on Sunday but is expected to be available against the Eagles.
In midfield, Maresca has more options now that Dario Essugo and Andrey Santos have joined the club, but he is likely to start Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez next to each other, with Cole Palmer either as a No10 or on the right wing.
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Maresca must decide whether the select Joao Pedro or Liam Delap up front. One option would be to play Pedro as a winger, though he has staked a claim to lead the line alone after starring at the Club World Cup and continuing that form in pre-season.
Romeo Lavia has not featured for Chelsea since completing 85 minutes in a round of 16 win over Benfica at the Club World Cup, when he suffered a “small muscle problem”. The severity of that injury is unclear.
Chelsea predicted XI (4-2-3-1): Sanchez; James, Fofana, Chalobah, Cucurella; Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez; Neto, Palmer, Gittens; Joao Pedro