Chelsea confirm Wesley Fofana status ahead of Crystal Palace as three players set to miss out

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Chelsea are just a couple of days away from the start of their new season. On Friday morning, Blues head coach Enzo Maresca delivered some key injury updates for Sunday’s clash against Crystal Palace.

The new Premier League campaign kicks off for Chelsea this weekend by hosting London rivals Palace at Stamford Bridge.

The teams played out back-to-back 1-1 draws in last season’s league meetings, so will there be a winner this time around?

Paul Merson has tipped another Chelsea and Palace draw, even though he’s a huge Blues fan. Even though Oliver Glasner’s side are a quality opponent, it would be an underwhelming start to drop points at home in their opening match of the season.

• READ MORE: Gary Neville and Roy Keane cannot agree on score predictions for Chelsea vs Crystal Palace

Enzo Maresca provides injury updates on Chelsea players

During his pre-match press conference this morning, streamed by Chelsea’s YouTube channel, Blues head coach Enzo Maresca covered multiple pieces of injury news.

When asked about the ACL injury suffered by Levi Colwill, Maresca said: “He’s okay. Aware that he has to be out for a long time. It’s a big loss for us.”

Afterwards, Maresca was asked if Wesley Fofana may be ready to play against Palace. He replied: “He could be available. We’ll see.”

Finally, the Blues manager shared that Benoit Badiashile and Romeo Lavia will miss the Palace fixture, but Trevoh Chalobah is fit for selection. Maresca said: “Benoit is in the process to come back, Romeo exactly the same. Trev is okay.”

As a result, Chelsea will be without first-team trio Colwill, Badiashile and Lavia for the weekend. We’re confident there’s still more than enough quality in the squad to cope, though.

Even though Chalobah limped off against AC Milan in last week’s pre-season friendly, it’s great news that he will be ready for Palace.

Chelsea’s starting centre-backs against Crystal Palace

The most interesting decision for Maresca against Palace will be the starting partnership at centre-back.

Troy Deeney is a huge fan of Fofana, rating him as one of the world’s best central defenders when he’s fit and firing. Unfortunately, the Frenchman has had far too many injuries during three seasons at Stamford Bridge.

We’d be surprised to see Fofana thrown straight into the XI this weekend, which is why Chalobah and Tosin Adarabioyo feels like the safest combination at centre-half.

It’s been claimed that Fofana is one of Maresca’s top three favourite players, but the risk of giving him his first minutes since March in the Premier League opener feels too big.