Chelsea manager’s update on three injured starters and whether they can play against Arsenal

Liam Rosenior played a surprisingly strong team to face Charlton last night, but still left out some key players.

None of Cole Palmer, Malo Gusto or Reece James were even in the squad. That led journalists to question whether there was anything wrong with them beyond just rest and rotation.

Chelsea’s three key players left out by Rosenior with busy week in mind

Cole Palmer and a fairly generic group of Chelsea players look disappointed. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

“Malo, Cole and Reece were precautionary today,” Rosenior said.

“I don’t want to take any risks at this stage of the season. They had minor tweaks or knocks from the Fulham game. And I didn’t feel [it was worth the risk].

“I feel like I’ve got such a good squad here. I don’t need to risk their health at the moment. We have a huge game on Wednesday. We have a huge game on Saturday. And I’ll check the medical reports tonight and tomorrow morning and see how they are then.”

We really wouldn’t worry too much. It doesn’t sound like anything too specific, just rotation for minutes being justified a little more forcefully. Sure he says they have “knocks”, but he also says it was “precautionary.” Gusto has played a huge amount as he’s so versatile, we all known about James’ injury history and Palmer is still being managed too.

We’re sure all three will be ready to go against Arsenal.

In other news…

Rosenior spoke about the front 3 who were in action and praised them for their efforts at a “tough place to go.”

The fourth and fifth Chelsea goals came very late, but were well deserved on the night given the performance Pedro Neto drilled in a near post shot then Estevao’s nice dribble which Enzo Fernandez put away with the last kick of the game.