The latest Chelsea injury news and updates on Cole Palmer ahead of Saturday’s Premier League fixture against Fulham.
The season may be very young, but injury concerns are already starting to pile up around the Premier League – and few teams have been more luckless than Chelsea over the course of the opening weeks of the campaign.
A serious injury has already sidelined Levi Colwill for the long haul, but things only got worse when Cole Palmer was forced to withdraw from the team ahead of the 5-1 win over West Ham United after picking up a knock during the pre-match warm-up.
We’ve got the latest on Palmer’s fitness ahead of Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off against Fulham, as well as updates on all of the Chelsea players who are battling injury issues, including Roméo Lavia and Benoît Badiashile, below.
Will Cole Palmer be fit to play against Fulham?
Palmer withdrew from the West Ham game at the last minute after he “felt something” in his groin during the warm-up, according to head coach Enzo Maresca, and was apparently “not 100%” in the days building up to the game, leading to concerns that he may miss more time as a result of the issue.
Chelsea reporter Simon Phillips claims on social media that Palmer was sent for a scan on the affected area and that while the results were “positive” and “better than he first feared”, it’s also possible that the game against Fulham is “too soon” for the midfielder.
Palmer has not yet returned to full team training and with an international break taking place after this weekend, it’s possible that Palmer is given an extended break to get back to full fitness – but no official decision has been made as to whether he may be available for Chelsea or indeed for England ahead of their World Cup qualifying matches against Andorra and Serbia.
When will and Roméo Lavia & Benoît Badiashile be back from injury?
Midfielder Lavia has spent rather more time on the treatment table than on the pitch since signing for Chelsea, and his luck hasn’t improved in the early part of the 2025/26 season.
The Belgian sustained what was initially described as a “small muscle problem” after the Club World Cup game against Benfica, but has not been able to train since. Neither Maresca nor the club have provided a likely return date as yet, but he is not expected to feature again before the international break.
Defender Badiashile, similarly, has been prevented from competing for a spot in Chelsea’s post-Colwill defence after picking up a muscular problem of his own during pre-season. Maresca has told reporters that he is in the “process of coming back” but he likewise not expected to play until September. The away game against Brentford immediately after the international break is a likely target for the Frenchman.
Will Levi Colwill & Omari Kellyman estimated return dates
Both Lavia and Badiashile will return long before Colwill, unfortunately. The England international centre-back has undergone successful surgery on the ACL injury he sustained during pre-season, but rehabilitation is expected to take most of the season.
No return date has yet been fixed, of course, but given the typical timeline for recovery from such knee injuries, it is extremely unlikely that Colwill will be able to return to full training until the spring of 2026, with a more specific timeline likely to be set after the first months of the new year.
Another long-term injury worry is 19-year-old midfielder Omari Kellyman, who missed almost the entirety of last season due to a serious recurring hamstring injury following his £19m move from Aston Villa. Chelsea have yet to provide an update on his likely return date, but he has not trained since March, when he injured his leg for a second time. Kellyman said in a statement at the time that he was “beyond gutted” by the injury, but that he would “take time to get this right”.
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