Enzo Maresca confirmed Cole Palmer and Wesley Fofana are both available for Saturday’s Premier League home match against Everton despite the latter’s eye injury scare.
Palmer was left out of Chelsea’s squad in their Champions League defeat to Atalanta on Tuesday.
The England international’s absence was clearly felt, as Enzo Fernandez, who played in the number 10 position in his place, also looked tired and struggled to make an impact.
Maresca admitted that Palmer is yet to be at 100 per cent, but will fortunately be in contention to play this weekend.
“He is okay. He is better, he is available at the moment with one more session available,” the Italian said about Palmer during Friday’s press conference.
“He finished the session with us with a mixed feeling, but he is okay.”
About Fofana, he added: “Wes is fine. He completed the session yesterday. He’s fine.”
Fofana sustained an injury against Atalanta, which forced him to be taken off the pitch despite having entered the pitch as a substitute half an hour earlier at half-time.
At the time Maresca said the injury looked “quite bad”.
It is, therefore, a pleasant surprise that he has looked fine in training and is available to face Everton.
On the other hand, Liam Delap unsurprisingly remains out with a shoulder injury he picked up in the draw with Bournemouth.
In addition to that, Maresca could not provide an expected return date.
“We don’t know yet. It can be two, three, four weeks,” he said about Delap’s injury.
“We don’t know exactly (how long he is out for).
Joao Pedro is, of course, the obvious striker choice amid Delap’s absence, but Marc Guiu also could benefit from the situation, given that he has been the go-to back-up striker in recent weeks.