TRIPLE BOOST! ESTEVAO, GUSTO, AND GITTENS RETURN TO CHELSEA TRAINING BEFORE PAFOS
Chelsea receives a massive triple boost as Estevao, Gusto, and Gittens return to training ahead of the Pafos Champions League tie.
Estevao Willian, Malo Gusto, and Jamie Gittens were back on the training pitch before Chelsea’s Champions League match against Pafos. They all missed the Brentford game, but now they're back at Cobham, shaking off whatever kept them out.
Cole Palmer, who looked pretty frustrated at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, was also out there in Surrey. Even though he drove Chelsea to a win over Brentford—giving Liam Rosenior his first Premier League victory—he didn’t exactly look thrilled. He scored Chelsea’s second goal late in the match, calmly slotting home from the penalty spot past Caoimhin Kelleher. Still, Palmer barely cracked a smile. Liam Delap and Reece James tried to lift his spirits, but he seemed lost in his own world.
Right after the final whistle, Palmer just dropped to the ground, clearly wiped out. Andrey Santos helped him back up, but you could see the exhaustion. When reporters asked about Palmer’s mood, Rosenior brushed off any talk of frustration.
“No, not at all,” Rosenior said. “If you watch those last fifteen minutes, you see the work he puts in pressing and running for the team. He was outstanding. You’re not going to be perfect on the ball every game, but you can still find ways to win.
“And with Cole and Reece James, they haven’t trained. Zero training time because of the knocks they took. That’s why I couldn’t play them against Arsenal. I’m so proud—they pushed themselves to play and gave everything. That attitude says a lot. The more they train and play now, the better they’ll get.”
Rosenior also made it clear he’ll keep making the right calls to keep his players healthy and ready for the months ahead.
Palmer probably wants to help Rosenior get a winning start in Europe, but it looks like Chelsea will rotate the squad against Pafos. The real test comes next week, though, when they take on Napoli in a game that could shape the entire season.
MUDRYK SPOTTED: STAR TRAINS PRIVATELY AT UXBRIDGE FC WHILE SERVING A MAJOR FA SUSPENSION
Mykhailo Mudryk is training alone! Read about his Uxbridge pitch rental, the 4-year FA ban threat, and his offensive gaming ban.
The Ukrainian international hasn't played for the Blues since their Europa Conference League win over Heidenheim back in November 2023. After joining Shakhtar Donetsk in 2023, he racked up 10 goals and 11 assists in 73 matches.
People started talking when he showed up on a football pitch this week, even though he's still suspended.
Mudryk Trains at Uxbridge FC
According to talkSPORT, Mudryk wasn’t actually training with Uxbridge. He just rented their 3G pitch and brought his own private coaching team along. The Honeycroft ground is about 40 minutes from his place, and his representatives booked it directly.
Chelsea had nothing to do with these solo sessions. Mudryk’s FA charge bans him from training or playing with the club.
If he’s found guilty, Mudryk faces a ban from football that could last up to four years. But the time he’s already spent suspended counts toward that total.
Back in December 2024, Mudryk said, “I know that I have not done anything wrong and remain hopeful that I will be back on the pitch soon. I cannot say any more now due to the confidentiality of the process, but I will as soon as I can.”
Other players like Sandro Tonali, Eric Cantona, Ivan Toney, and Luis Suarez have also received long bans.
Mudryk Banned from Gaming Too
Football isn’t the only place Mudryk’s hit a wall. In February, he got a four-week ban from the Counter-Strike 2 platform FACEIT for making offensive comments during a game.
Apparently, he made several remarks about the massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia during WWII. These killings carried out by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army between 1943 and 1945 left up to 100,000 Poles dead, many of them women and children.
FACEIT’s rules say a four-week ban goes to repeat offenders, so this probably wasn’t Mudryk’s first time getting punished for his behaviour on the platform.
In a message to his fans, he wrote, “Happy New Year to all my fans. I just wanted to say thank you for your support. I see all your messages and truly appreciate them, so please don't give up on me, as I have not given up on myself. Can't wait to see you soon.”
DISCIPLINE CRISIS: WHY CHELSEA IS ON THE VERGE OF AN ALL-TIME PREMIER LEAGUE RECORD
With 10 games left, Chelsea's top-five hopes rest on fixing a disciplinary record that is the worst in the Premier League.
Chelsea manager Liam Rosenior isn’t messing around anymore. After yet another red card, this time Pedro Neto got sent off in the second half of their 2-1 loss to Arsenal. Rosenior’s patience has run out. That’s now nine red cards for Chelsea this season, which is over twice as many as any other Premier League team. Even Enzo Maresca picked one up when he was in charge.
It’s not just Neto. Marc Cucurella, Joao Pedro, and Moises Caicedo – they’ve all been sent off at some point. Chelsea’s disciplinary record has gone from bad to worse, and Rosenior’s fed up. With Neto now suspended for the big game against Aston Villa, Rosenior wants his players to get their act together and start taking responsibility.
“It needs to improve,” he told reporters on Monday. “My job is to build a culture where people own up to mistakes. If you mess up, admit it and make sure it doesn’t happen again. That goes for me too. If I pick the wrong team or make a bad call, I need to be accountable, and I expect the same from my players.”
Rosenior’s message couldn’t be clearer: sort yourselves out, or you’re out. With ten league games left and a top-five finish and a Champions League spot still within reach, Chelsea can’t afford to keep shooting themselves in the foot. They’re only two reds away from the all-time Premier League record. At this point, they could nearly field a whole team of players who’ve seen red this season.
Neto’s sending off came hot on the heels of Wesley Fofana’s red card in the draw with Burnley. Rosenior said, “You need your team-mates, but you’ve got to help yourself too. Pedro apologised to everyone, but we’re missing him on Wednesday. I need to see better behaviour, not just from Pedro, but from everyone. Too many silly bookings, too much dissent. If we’re serious about improving, we need to change this now.”
It’s not a new problem either. Chelsea finished bottom of the Premier League fair play table last season under Maresca, and they were bottom the year before with Mauricio Pochettino.
Asked how he plans to fix it, Rosenior explained he even had to sub Cole Palmer and Enzo Fernandez against Arsenal to avoid more reds. “It’s not always about punishment,” he said. “Sometimes, you have to show the value of staying disciplined. The stats don’t lie: when we keep 11 men on the pitch, our chances of winning go way up. That should be all the motivation we need.”
He knows setbacks happen, bad passes, and questionable refereeing, but he wants his players to react positively and move on. “I can’t keep losing players every couple of games. If someone can’t control themselves, I’ll have to leave them out.”
Chelsea’s running out of excuses. It’s time for the players to step up or step aside.
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