Sold by 1.4 million and benched by a further 760,000 – so it was inevitable that Cole Palmer (£10.4m) would score what was only his second goal in 18 Premier League matches on Saturday.

Palmer’s fitness is one of many talking points from Chelsea’s 2-2 draw with Brentford on Saturday evening.

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MARESCA ON PALMER’S FITNESS

Palmer only had two training sessions after a three-week absence, so he did pretty well to even be on the bench.

Emerging as a 56th-minute substitute with Chelsea 1-0 down, he took just five minutes to bring the Blues level, latching onto Joao Pedro‘s (£7.7m) inadvertent touch to finish well. He should have had a second, spurning an easier chance from the lively Pedro Neto‘s (£7.0m) cut-back, and he ended up having more shots (five) than anyone on show at the Brentford Community Stadium.

It’ll be interesting to see how Enzo Maresca handles Palmer’s minutes in the coming week, with Bayern Munich to come on Wednesday and Manchester United to follow less than 72 hours later. On Friday, Maresca talked of managing his talisman once he was injury-free.

“Cole was not fit to play from the start. It’s quite easy. It’s from the medical staff. It’s from the player. It’s from when we take a decision with an injured player. It’s always from all of us. So when Cole is fit, we are very, very happy.” – Enzo Maresca on Cole Palmer

PEDRO “NOT 100%”

Pedro’s assist consolidated his position at the top of the FPL forwards’ standings. That’s now five returns in four Gameweeks since his summer move.

It was otherwise a fairly quiet evening for the Brazilian, whose blocked fourth-minute effort was his only shot, but that was true of several Chelsea players. Maresca’s tinkering didn’t help with the cohesion of the collective display.

The fact that he started and lasted 78 minutes, despite being “not fit 100%” and playing in the high altitude of Bolivia on Wednesday morning, just shows how important he is to the Chelsea cause, especially while Liam Delap (£6.3m) is sidelined.

“No, no, no, no, absolutely [not]. Joao Pedro, before the game, asked me that he was not fit 100%, better [that he] doesn’t play. And so if I was thinking about Bayern Munich, Joao [would have been] on the bench. But Joao played because the focus was about tonight. But for sure, when you have so many games, you have to plan a different option.” – Enzo Maresca when asked if he had one eye on the upcoming Champions League tie with Bayern Munich

WHY GUIU WASN’T INVOLVED

With Delap out and Palmer not fit to start, it always looked likely that at least one of Facundo Buonanotte (£4.8m), Tyrique George (£4.9m) or Marc Guiu (£4.4m) would get significant game-time on Saturday. In the end, Buonanotte and George both got 45 minutes apiece. The former started in the ’10’ behind Pedro, while George initially led the line on his introduction before moving wide.

Guiu didn’t even get on the bench. He was the 21st member of the travelling party and culled from the matchday squad, despite Chelsea’s shortage of strikers and his recall from a loan at Sunderland.

“Marc is a striker. We know him from last year. He spent all season with us. But in this moment, one of them was out from the squad. I think I also thought to give Ty [George] a little bit more confidence because he is doing well, against Fulham he did quite well. Tonight, again, when he was on, he was okay. But the season is so long that for sure, Marc is going to find space.” – Enzo Maresca

Still owned by 11.0% of FPL managers, when might Guiu get his chance? He can’t even feature in the EFL Cup tie against Lincoln City due to being cup-tied.

Might Gameweek 9 be his first league start? Maresca talked below about ideally playing Pedro deeper when facing low blocks, and Chelsea don’t have too many of those fixtures coming up in the short term. Nottingham Forest might be a more front-foot side under Ange Postecoglou, too.

“I think it’s when we face teams that are low block like tonight, I think having a proper No.9 and Joao in behind in the way we play West Ham with Liam [Delap] and Joao and in the way we start against Fulham with Liam and Joao is the perfect situation for Joao.” – Enzo Maresca on Joao Pedro’s ideal position

The Sunderland game follows three days on from a clash with Ajax, so it’s a possibility we see Guiu leading the line then.

ROTATION BITES AS SECOND STRING STRUGGLE

Welcome to rotation season. It wasn’t just the effects of the September international break but also perhaps, despite Maresca’s protests, the upcoming busy schedule that saw the Chelsea boss change a few things around.

Marc Cucurella (£6.2m) was the highest-profile casualty, with Malo Gusto (£5.0m) and Reece James (£5.5m) also rested. In came Jarrel Hato (£4.8m) and Wesley Fofana (£4.4m) for two unconvincing 45-minute displays at full-back. Buonanotte was slightly better but not spectacular, while Jamie Gittens (£6.3m) was again sub-par out wide.

“We planned 45 minutes for Wes [Fofana], because he was a long time out. We planned not all the game for Jorrel [Hato], because we said already many times, when you arrive from another country, you need time to adapt. Facundo [Buonanotte] joined us two weeks ago. Physicality also is not 100%. But we needed to manage different situations, like Estevao that was out. Joao Pedro also was not 100%, but he did the effort to play for part of the game.” – Enzo Maresca

DAMSGAARD + ESTEVAO ILL

Gittens may have started regardless after Estevao‘s (£6.5m) international exertions but the Brazilian’s illness cemented his place on Saturday.

Mikkel Damsgaard (£5.9m) missed out with an “overnight” bug, too, so there are no great concerns about him for Gameweek 5.

CHALOBAH + CAICEDO BANK DEFCON

Trevoh Chalobah (£5.1m) continues to catch the eye in FPL. One superb pass to Neto could have resulted in an assist, while another couple of shots – he’s had at least one in every game so far this season – means he’s now joint-top of the defender goal attempts column in FPL.

He banked defensive contribution (DefCon) points on Saturday, too, meaning he’s returned something for his owners in all four Gameweeks to date.

Tosin Adarabioyo (£4.5m) looked like he had met the DefCon threshold, as well, only to drop back to nine after an Opta data refresh.

Moises Caicedo (£5.5m), the leading midfielder for DefCon points in 2024/25, now has three such returns in four Gameweeks. His goal took him to two for the campaign – that’s already his best-ever total for a Premier League season!

SCHADE BOUNCES BACK

Kevin Schade (£7.0m) bounced back from Gameweek’s 3 penalty miss with a goal on Saturday. Latching onto Jordan Henderson‘s (£5.0m) superb long pass, his deflected shot opened the scoring.

Keith Andrews changed to a 5-3-2 for this game, as his predecessor used to do in ‘big-six’ encounters, so Schade found himself more central, racking up four shots – more than the rest of his teammates combined.

The Bees meet both Manchester clubs, Liverpool and Newcastle United over the next seven Gameweeks, so you wonder if Andrews sets them up similarly in those encounters. If so, it may spell bad news for Dango Ouattara‘s (£6.0m) minutes, as he was the makeweight in the formation change.

Schade also demonstrated his long-throw prowess, heaving the ball in for Fabio Carvalho‘s (£4.9m) late equaliser.