Colwill, Palmer and Madueke start for Chelsea. Adarabioyo and James are on the bench. White, Rice and Saka start for Arsenal. Lewis-Skelly and Nwaneri are on the bench.
Anthony Gordon off injured now. Decent chance we either need promotions or we won’t have a full bench,
Seems like there could be quite a few withdrawals so surely replacements will be needed and even the U21’s seem to be hit also, Delap has gone off injured now.
How many players is that now that have either gone off injured or injury concerns before this weekend?
Trent, Gordon, Saka have all gone off and Rice, Palmer and Grealish all had concerns but Palmer seems fully fit. Rice is playing through pain apparently so could still withdraw. The U21’s have doubts about Hinshelwood and Delap.
No scan results yet but confidence that Alexander-Arnold’s hamstring injury isn’t too serious. Hope is that immediate substitution limited damage. Been playing with painkilling injections in recent weeks after suffering side strain v Finland last month (The Athletic).
Palmer is really struggling in the 10 role in big games this season. Seems completely blunt if the game isn't really transition heavy. He has the tools to make it work but he has a lot to work on if he wants to be the centre piece and the primary facilitator of a team that competes for trophies, rather than being primarily a final 3rd player like he was last season. The latter role suits him better on the whole right now imo.