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COLE PALMER IS BACK: ENZO MARESCA CONFIRMS STAR IS READY FOR FULL NINETY MINUTES

Cole Palmer is back! Enzo Maresca confirms the Chelsea star is ready for 90 minutes against Newcastle as Moises Caicedo returns.

Cole Palmer Is Back: Enzo Maresca Confirms Star Is Ready For Full Ninety Minutes
Enzo Maresca Believes Cole Palmer Is Finally Ready For St James' Park

Enzo Maresca thinks Cole Palmer is ready for more playing time. The England player is getting back in shape after being out for two and a half months.

Palmer got a groin injury in the game against Manchester United on September 20, and it needed to be taken care of carefully. Because of that, the 23-year-old didn't play again until the Leeds United game on December 3.

Palmer played for 30 minutes at Elland Road. Then, he started two games in a row against Bournemouth and Everton. He scored a good goal against Everton, which helped us win 2-0 at Stamford Bridge.

He got through both games without any problems. He also didn't travel with the team for the League Cup game against Cardiff City in the middle of the week. Now, Palmer might play at St. James' Park tomorrow afternoon. Maresca thinks that the Blues' No. 10 is ready to play a full 90 minutes.

'He is ready,' said the Blues' coach. 'He has already played 60 minutes twice—maybe even a bit longer last time. So, he's getting better, and he can play more. It just depends on the game whether that's 70 or 90 minutes.'

The Blues will also get a boost at St. James' Park because Moises Caicedo is back from suspension. He missed the last three games because of a red card he got against Arsenal.

Enzo Fernandez might also be back in the team. He didn't play against Cardiff in the middle of the week, but he was on the bench.

'Moi was suspended for three games, but these guys have played a lot,' Maresca said when he talked about his midfield choices.

'Right now, I don’t think we have someone who can naturally replace Enzo. We've been using Andrey Santos, but Andrey is more like a number six, which is Moi's spot, not Enzo's. Moi is also playing a lot because Romeo (Lavia) and Dario (Essugo) are both out hurt.

'So, they're playing a lot. But if you look at Arsenal, Liverpool, and Manchester City—the teams that play Champions League—they also have guys who play every game.'

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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