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chelsea Triple injury boost ahead of top four clash with Aston Villa cole palmer Now the full 90 minutes and both are ready to play estevao And Liam Delap Fit to return to action.
In fourth place is the blues Face an in-form Villa teamWho sits one place above him on Saturday evening and now has Talisman Palmer ready to play full match if required.
The England international’s playing minutes have been limited since recovering from a groin injury and a broken toe earlier this month, but the boss said in his pre-match press conference Enzo Maresca Suggested that is no longer an issue.
“I think he (Palmer) is ready for 90 minutes,” Maresca said. “The progression for a player is 45 (minutes), an hour, 70.
“He’s already played an hour against Everton. He’s played more than 70 hours against Newcastle, so I think there’s been progress.”
An interesting sub-plot to Saturday’s clash will be Palmer coming up against the Villa star morgan rogers – Both men are vying to be the starting number 10 for Thomas Tuchel’s England at next summer’s World Cup.
rogers has gone too far Chelsea players have been affected by injury so far this season, but Maresca insisted he would not trade the two players.
“No, because I love Cole and Cole is my player,” Maresca said. “It is a good option for Thomas (Tuchel) but in the end it is his decision.”
In addition to Palmer being fully fit, two more Chelsea players will also return on Saturday. £30million striker Delap has recovered faster than expected from a shoulder injury suffered against Bournemouth on 6 December, while winger Estevao has not appeared since the win over Everton 11 days ago.
Delap, 22, is yet to score his debut Premier League goals and has missed almost 10 weeks of the season since transferring from Ipswich in the summer – mostly due to a groin problem in August.
“Estevao is available for Saturday and so is Liam Delap,” Maresca confirmed. “We didn’t know how long (Delap) was going to be out. Very happy for both of them.”
Maresca himself will not be on the sidelines on Saturday after earning a touchline ban for his third yellow card of the season, having previously been handed a one-match ban after being shown a red card against Liverpool for excessive celebrating in October.
“Yes, in almost 100 games, I have been suspended three times,” said the Italian. “Once for the celebration and twice for the yellow card.
“So yes, unfortunately I’ll be in the stands, but Willie (Caballero) is there, Danny (Walker) is there, the coaching staff is there.”
As is common practice at his press conferences these days, Maresca also became annoyed with the line of questioning at one point – when asked if the Blues had any plans to recruit more players in January amid links to Bournemouth star Antoine Semenyo, he did not take it seriously.
“I know I need to repeat every press conference exactly the same,” he said angrily. “Before Newcastle I talked about my relationship with the club and said it was good. I talked about Estevao and Delap and now I need to repeat.
“I talked about wide players (in the transfer market), and before Newcastle I said I love our team. I don’t think we need to do anything. Next (press conference) I’ll answer the same question again.”