Chelsea have suffered a major injury blow during Saturday's clash at home to Fulham.
The Blues are chasing their first home victory of the season after drawing 0-0 against Crystal Palace in their opening fixture of 2025/26. Enzo Maresca's side thrashed West Ham 5-1 at the London Stadium almost a week later and will now be looking to claim all three points against Marco Silva's team.
Saturday's match is the chance for Maresca's side to move to the top of the Premier League table, with Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham all playing later on in the weekend. But Chelsea will have to do so without striker Liam Delap, who limped off at Stamford Bridge with what looked like a hamstring issue. Tyrique George replaced Chelsea's No.9 in a direct swap.
Delap has yet to score a goal in the Premier League for Maresca's men, but did net once in the Club World Cup this summer. There will now be fears that the Blues could be short of options up front if Delap is not fit to return after the international break at Brentford.
Chelsea were perhaps fortunate moments after Delap went off injured when Tom King had a goal ruled out for the visitors. Referee Rob Jones was sent to the VAR monitor and adjudged that a foul by Rodrigo Muniz on Trevoh Chalobah had taken place in the build-up.
"I'm fuming and I'm a defender and usually I'm on the side of the defender," former Premier League defender Curtis Davies said on BBC Radio 5 Live.
"Trevor Chalobah has gone for a tackle that was never in his favour. Rodrigo Muniz takes the ball and accidentally steps on his foot. I don't know how that's a foul, never mind taking off the goal. It's ridiculous."
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Cole Palmer of Chelsea celebrates scoring his team's second goal from the penalty spot with team mate Jadon Sancho during the Premier League match between Chelsea FC and Brighton & Hove Albion FC at Stamford Bridge on September 28, 2024
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