After Chelsea’s Champions League victory over Pafos, Liam Rosenior provided the latest on Filip Jorgensen and Reece James, who do not finish the game, and Cole Palmer, who was not in the matchday squad.

Jorgensen and James were replaced at half-time by Robert Sanchez and Estevao Willian respectively. The keeper had to go off injured and though Rosenior couldn’t say what the problem was or the extent of it, he was disappointed for the keeper.

‘Unfortunately Filip picked something up,’ he said.

‘I’m devastated for him because he’s really impressed me, not just the game at Charlton but how he’s trained. Hopefully Filip can get better really quickly.’


On the skipper, meanwhile, Rosenior explained he was managing his minutes by taking him off at the break.

‘We are playing Wednesday, Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday, so we want to make sure Reece is available as much as possible because he’s an outstanding player and a leader in our group.’

Before kick-off in the Pafos game, Rosenior confirmed Palmer missed out with a ‘little bit of tightness in his thigh’. The head coach provided some additional detail on the issue, while reiterating he remains confident our no.10 will be available for the trip to Crystal Palace at the weekend.

‘It was precautionary,’ said Rosenior. ‘He felt something really minor in the game against Brentford. It was quite early on so credit to him for playing through it. I don’t want to risk any players at this stage, especially players of his quality.

‘He’s got a really good chance to be involved and start the game on Sunday, and we will keep preparing him for that.’