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ENZO MARESCA'S INJURY UPDATE: LIAM DELAP ESCAPES FRACTURE; COLE PALMER'S UCL STATUS

Enzo Maresca offers positive updates on Liam Delap (no fracture) and confirms Cole Palmer is rested for Chelsea's crucial Atalanta UCL match.

Enzo Maresca's Injury Update: Liam Delap Escapes Fracture; Cole Palmer's UCL Status
Maresca Plans Changes Amidst Delap Injury, Palmer Rest.

Chelsea's head coach, Enzo Maresca, shared some good news about Liam Delap's recent injury and gave an update on Cole Palmer.

The Blues are heading to face Atalanta BC in the Champions League on Tuesday night, trying to stay in the top eight of the league phase.

Delap injured his shoulder against Bournemouth on Saturday and was already set to miss the next game. Reports said he might be out until February.

Palmer was absent from training on Monday morning, having just returned from groin and toe injuries.

Maresca spoke at a press conference on Monday night and had some positive news about two of his attackers.

Enzo Maresca on Cole Palmer and Delap

Maresca didn't say when Delap would be back, but he did say that the striker didn't fracture his shoulder.

Liam is lucky; there's no fracture, which is good, Maresca told reporters.

Cole is in his recovery process right now. He can't play two games in a row with only three days between them. We planned this to protect him.

Maresca said that Wesley Fofana and Reece James, whose fitness is being managed so they can't play every game, might play against the Serie A team.

Will Maresca change up Chelsea's lineup against Atalanta?

With an EFL Cup quarter-final against Cardiff City next Tuesday, Maresca could make a lot of changes to Chelsea's starting players.

The West London team will be playing their fourth game since November 30 on Tuesday night, so they'll have to make some changes.

Trevoh Chalobah, Marc Cucurella, and Enzo Fernandez have started every Premier League game against Arsenal, Leeds United, and Bournemouth.

They're likely to be on the bench, with Josh Acheampong, Jorrel Hato, and Andrey Santos possibly stepping in.

DID LIAM ROSENIOR’S PAST AS A PUNDIT INFLUENCE HIS DEFENSIVE STRATEGY AT ARSENAL?

Chelsea boss Liam Rosenior hits back at critics after a defensive approach saw the Blues exit the Carabao Cup semi-final.

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Liam Rosenior showed too much respect to Arsenal, and it cost Chelsea

Liam Rosenior stood by his cautious approach after Chelsea couldn’t overturn their first-leg deficit against Arsenal in the Carabao Cup semi-final.

Down 3-2 from the first match, Chelsea never really put Arsenal under pressure at the Emirates. In the end, Kai Havertz—of all people—put the game to bed in stoppage time, scoring against his old club.

Rosenior switched things up, going with a back three and playing it safe. He wanted to keep the game close and try to push hard late on. He brought on Cole Palmer and Estevao around the 60th minute, hoping for a spark, but Chelsea still couldn’t carve out real chances. Arsenal just wouldn’t budge.

Pundits didn’t love Rosenior’s tactics and let him know it. He brushed it off. “I’ve been a pundit. It’s easy. It’s easy in hindsight,” he said. “If I go all-out and press high, we could give away two early goals, and then everyone asks what I’m thinking. That’s just how it is. Lose, and you’re hammered. Win, and you’re a genius. Usually, it’s somewhere in the middle.”

Chelsea were up against the league leaders, and with both Reece James and Pedro Neto missing due to minor injuries, Rosenior planned to hang in there and try to frustrate Arsenal—and maybe turn the mood in the stadium.

“That was the idea. You saw it,” he said. “I thought the psychological side of the tie mattered, and you could feel it in the stadium too. At 60 minutes, I brought on Cole and Estevao, and suddenly we had some moments around the box. I think people sensed this game could flip.”

It didn’t happen, though. Rosenior said he couldn’t fault his players for their effort, and in the end, Arsenal’s clinching goal came while Chelsea were throwing everything forward, desperate to turn things around.

IS JOãO PEDRO ACTUALLY BETTER THAN LIVERPOOL’S £79M HUGO EKITIKé? THE STATS REVEAL ALL

Liam Rosenior makes history as Chelsea win three in a row! Discover why João Pedro is the Premier League's best summer signing.

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The £60m star is proving to be Chelsea’s best BlueCo signing yet

Since Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital took over Chelsea in 2022, they've been anything but quiet in the transfer market. In just three and a half years, they've signed 54 new senior players and spent well over £1 billion.

Some of these signings haven’t even made it onto the pitch for the first team—guys like Gaga Słonina, Ângelo Gabriel, Omari Kellyman, and Caleb Wiley, just to name a few. But others have really made their mark. Think Marc Cucurella, Moisés Caicedo, Enzo Fernández and, of course, Cole Palmer. Now, the question is, has one of Chelsea’s latest summer signings done enough to join that group? Is he about to become one of the Premier League’s signings of the season?

Let’s talk about Chelsea’s summer addition and what he’s bringing to the table. It’s been a great week for Liam Rosenior’s squad. On Saturday night, they were 2-0 down at halftime to West Ham at Stamford Bridge. Somehow, they turned it around and won 3-2, with Enzo Fernández scoring in stoppage time to seal it.

That win made it three league victories in a row for Rosenior. He’s now only the fourth English manager to start his Premier League career with three straight wins—joining Bobby Gould, Sam Allardyce, and Craig Shakespeare. Not bad company at all.

Just three days earlier, Chelsea booked their spot in the Champions League round of 16 after a wild 3-2 win away at Napoli. Down 2-1, João Pedro scored twice in the second half to turn the game around. The Brazilian’s goal at the weekend kicked off Chelsea’s comeback, bringing his total to 15 goals for the club—including three at the Club World Cup. So, how does he stack up against other strikers who switched clubs last summer?

Looking at the numbers, here’s how the new strikers have done since moving in the summer of 2025:

Hugo Ekitiké (Liverpool, £79m): 15 goals (10 PL, 2 UCL)

João Pedro (Chelsea, £60m): 12 goals (9 PL, 3 UCL)

Viktor Gyökeres (Arsenal, £54.8m): 11 goals (6 PL, 4 UCL)

Nick Woltemade (Man United, £69m): 9 goals (7 PL, 1 UCL)

Benjamin Šeško (Man City, £66.3m): 6 goals (5 PL)

Alexander Isak (Newcastle, £125m): 3 goals (2 PL)

Liam Delap (Spurs, £30m): 2 goals (1 PL, 1 UCL)

Only Ekitiké has scored more than João Pedro across all competitions, but Liverpool paid about £20m more for him than Chelsea paid for Pedro. In the whole Premier League, only Erling Haaland, Igor Thiago, Antoine Semenyo, and Ekitiké have more league goals than Pedro’s nine.

But stats aside, Chelsea just look more dangerous with Pedro leading the attack. Their last league defeat? He started that one on the bench at Craven Cottage. Since Rosenior took over, Pedro has started and scored in every match.

Chelsea have brought in plenty of players from Brighton during the BlueCo era, but with the way things are going, João Pedro might end up being the best of the bunch.

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