Chelsea team news: Enzo Maresca confirms Palmer among those to be rested against Cardiff City in EFL Cup

By Darren Plant | 15 Dec 2025 15:28

"They need to recover" Maresca confirms Palmer among players to be rested against Cardiff

Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca has confirmed that Cole Palmer will not feature against Cardiff City on Tuesday night.

The Blues head into Tuesday's EFL Cup quarter-final at the Cardiff City Stadium looking to edge closer to their first piece of domestic silverware since 2018.

Maresca's side have been on a hectic run of matches which has already seen seven games played since November 22.

Furthermore Palmer has just made his return from groin and toe injuries to feature in three of the last four fixtures in all competitions.

A total of 145 minutes were accumulated across games with Leeds United, Bournemouth and Everton, Palmer also scoring versus the latter of those opponents on Saturday.

Maresca confirms Palmer to miss next Chelsea game

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Maresca admitted that the England international was not in contention for the trip to South Wales.

The Italian told reporters: "I already said many times in all the press conferences that the target for the ones that they need to be protected is the target.

"Cole in this moment is one of the players that he deserves to be protected, and in this moment he's not available to play two games in three days."

On rotation in general, Maresca added: "We're going to make some changes.

"We'll see how many, but for sure we have players that in the last 12, 13 days, they've played five games. So they need to probably recover energy."

Which Chelsea players are likely to be rested against Cardiff?

Marc Cucurella is a certainty to be rested with the left-back having completed the 90 minutes on seven occasions across three weeks.

Enzo Fernandez has also only been rested for 23 minutes across the same period and should be on the substitutes' bench or rested entirely.

Reece James has completed the 90 minutes in the last three matches, essentially guaranteeing that he will be rested, while Trevoh Chalobah, Wesley Fofana, Pedro Neto and Joao Pedro are also in line to be left out.

The rest of the available squad will be considered for starts, including Moises Caicedo who has missed the last three Premier League games through suspension.