Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca has revealed that Benoit Badiashile, Enzo Fernandez and Pedro Neto will be in the matchday squad this weekend.

All three players were doubts going into the international break, but speaking in his pre-match press conference on Friday morning, Maresca said:

“Benoit [Badiashile] is back, he can be available for tomorrow, that’s great news for us. And then Enzo [Fernandez] and Pedro [Neto], they used the international break to recover a little bit of energy, also to recover from the injury, the problems they had, and they are both available for tomorrow.”

It is a major boost for the Blues heading into the Saturday lunchtime kickoff against Burnley.

Why had the Chelsea trio been sidelined?

Badiashile was taken off during the 2-1 win over Liverpool with a muscular injury last month but Maresca was confident of having him back for the trip to Turf Moor.

Fernandez did not go away with Argentina due to a chronic knee injury, but it appears as if the midfielder’s issue has cleared up enough for him to be in contention for the weekend.

Neto, meanwhile, had a minor hamstring problem that he aggravated during the win over Wolves and he was left out of Portugal’s squad as a precaution.

What has happened to Palmer?

The 23-year-old was close to returning from a groin injury, which has kept him out since September but Maresca has now confirmed that he broke his toe in a freak accident at home. He says Palmer will miss at least three more games:

“He’s not available for tomorrow for sure, Barcelona, for sure, Arsenal, for sure. Unfortunately, he had an accident at home two days ago and he hit his toe. It’s nothing important, but for sure, he’s not back next week.”

Read more about the Chelsea First Team Squad for 2025/26 here