Marco Palestra (quad) is set to make his long-awaited return from injury in Gameweek 6, but there remains plenty of uncertainty about Chelsea’s other crocked players.
There has been no recent update from the Blues and Xabi Alonso has proven to be next-to-no-use when it comes to injury bulletins in his press conferences, so we don’t have much hope for Friday’s presser.
The Standard seem more confident on Moises Caicedo (calf), Cole Palmer (muscle) and Reece James (hamstring) being available than Joao Pedro (knee), but how much of that is just educated guesswork and not genuine ‘in the know’ info is another question. The usually reliable Si Phillips suggests that Palmer is the only likely returnee, indeed.
All four were unseen in Wednesday’s training gallery but, as we have learned from experience, club photographers are often told not to snap injury doubts, to keep the opposition guessing.
Elsewhere, young striker Emmanuel Emegha (hamstring) – who hasn’t featured at all this season – did train, while Jamie Gittens returned early from England under-21 duty after taking a knock to the ankle.
