Chelsea Without ‘Seven or Eight Players’ for Liverpool Clash

Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca expects to be without as many as eight players for Saturday’s crunch meeting with Liverpool.

The Blues boss is under pressure after a return of just eight points from an opening six games which, on paper, were comparatively kind to Chelsea.

Maresca is well aware of the need to improve before Liverpool’s trip to Stamford Bridge, but the Italian’s squad options are limited as a large number of players have already been ruled out through injury or suspension.

In his pre-match press conference, Maresca repeatedly pointed to the number of unavailable players. “We have seven or eight players out,” was his final statement on the subject, having pointed to the numbers several times prior to that.

The headline omission for Chelsea is midfielder Cole Palmer. The Englishman is being rested to protect a groin injury which has plagued him all season, with Maresca hopeful that a short spell out of action will prevent the need for surgery further down the line.

“I don’t have any update at the moment,” he said of Palmer. “We have a meeting this week to see how it is.”

Chelsea Facing Centre Back Selection Crisis

Cole Palmer is battling a groin problem. | EyesWideOpen/Getty Images

Also unavailable to Maresca are the injured defensive trio of Tosin Adarabioyo, Wesley Fofana and Levi Colwill, while Trevoh Chalobah must serve a suspension following his red card last time out against Brighton & Hove Albion.

In midfield, Darío Essugo is a long-term absentee and Andrey Santos has since joined him on the sidelines. Striker Liam Delap is expected back from a hamstring injury in November.

Predicting significant roles for academy graduates Josh Acheampong and Tyrique George to help address the selection crisis, Maresca added: “I think it's a fact that I really trust the young players. Not just the young players that we buy, but also the young players from the academy.

“Again, we gave games last year to Josh Acheampong, having players on the bench, senior players. So that shows that I trust young players. The same thing happened with Ty. So I really trust all the players we have. In this moment we have four or five defenders out. But we’re going to try to adapt and find the right solution for tomorrow.”