Chelsea and Tottenham will go head-to-head in the Premier League at Stamford Bridge on Thursday night with both sides hoping to find a way of securing Champions League football next season.
Enzo Maresca’s side have been in indifferent form in recent weeks and fell to a 1-0 defeat against Arsenal before the international break. Ange Postecoglou’s side on the other hand have just two wins in their last six in all competitions and were well beaten by Fulham in their last game.
Both sides have got injury concerns to deal with too ahead of this match up, and this is how GIVEMESPORT expect the teams to line up.
Chelsea Team News
Palmer back in training
The Blues were without key man Cole Palmer for the defeat to Arsenal and the playmaker missed the subsequent international break with England too, but he has now returned to training and should be fit to return.
Noni Madueke and Nicolas Jackson have also returned to action after hamstring injuries but they may not be risked from the start. Mykhailo Mudryk is still unavailable too.
|
Chelsea Injuries and Suspensions |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Player |
Injury |
Potential Return Date |
|
Omari Kellyman |
Thigh |
01/06/2025 |
|
Cole Palmer |
Thigh |
03/04/2025 |
|
Noni Madueke |
Hamstring |
03/04/2025 |
|
Nicolas Jackson |
Hamstring |
03/04/2025 |
|
Marc Guiu |
Hamstring |
03/04/2025 |
|
Romeo Lavia |
Knock |
03/04/2025 |
|
Mykhailo Mudryk |
Suspended |
Unknown |
Maresca Drops Team News Update
Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Maresca shared an update on his squad for the game.
“Cole [Palmer] is back, he is ok. He is better. Noni [Madueke] is better and Nico [Jackson] is better. They are all good.
“It is very good [to have them back]. We have said many times, that this is a game for the players and when they are not there or different reasons, you struggle. It’s exactly what happened to us this season, we had six unbelievable months and then six or seven injuries in a row. Then we lost something. But it will be good to finish [the season] with all of them.
“The reason why he [Palmer] was not with the international team was the day before Arsenal, he had a muscle problem that was not a big issue but didn’t allow him to play the Arsenal game and join his international team.
“We always say that going with the international team is the best thing for a player, but overall, some days off for Cole and for the rest was a good thing.
“Romeo [Lavia] has suffered a small setback. He was doing better in terms of progress but then unfortunately one or two days ago he had a small problem. We will see in the next hours [how long he’s out for].”
Chelsea Predicted XI
Jackson to return to the side
- Chelsea Predicted XI: Sanchez; James, Fofana, Colwill, Cucurella; Caicedo, Fernandez; Sancho, Palmer, Neto; Jackson.
- Chelsea Predicted Substitutes: Jorgensen (GK), Gusto (DEF), Tosin (DEF), Chalobah (DEF), Dewsbury-Hall (MID), Amougou (MID), George (FWD), Nkunku (FWD), Madueke (FWD).
Palmer is fit to return and could find himself in his preferred right-wing role, with Maresca likely to bring Nicolas Jackson back into the lineup too, meaning £365,000-a-week trio Madueke, Tosin and Nkunku are to be benched.
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Chelsea are looking to maintain their push for a UEFA Champions League place when they host London rivals Tottenham Hotspur.
Tottenham Team News
Kulusevski still ‘weeks’ away
Tottenham Hotspur have been dealing with a host of injuries all season long but manager Postecoglou could be set to welcome back the vast majority of players.
Richarlison and Lucas Bergvall are back in training, but Kevin Danso and Dejan Kulusevski are still “weeks” away from a return to action with hamstring and foot injuries respectively.
|
Tottenham Injuries and Suspensions |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Player |
Injury |
Potential Return Date |
|
Radu Dragusin |
Knee |
01/12/2025 |
|
Dejan Kulusevski |
Foot |
19/04/2025 |
|
Lucas Bergvall |
Illness |
03/04/2025 |
|
Kevin Danso |
Hamstring |
19/04/2025 |
|
Richarlison |
Calf |
03/04/2025 |
Postecoglou Drops Team News Update
Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Postecoglou shared an update on his squad.
“Kevin [Danso] and Deki [Kulusevski] are working hard still, they’re probably a couple of weeks away, but both are progressing well.
“Richy’s training with the group, again, it’s about when we reintroduce him to the matchday squad, but he’s training with the main training group, which is positive.
“Lucas [Bergvall] is fine. He had a bit of an illness, picked up a bug, but he got back at the weekend and got straight back into training.
“It was a good international break for us. Firstly, obviously no-one picked up anything, which is important, but also some guys got some game time which we felt was going to be important, guys like (Cristian) Romero, Destiny (Udogie), Matty Tel, Wilson (Odobert) and all these guys who missed a lot of football recently all got some good game time.
“The ones who played all did relatively well, they’re all back and we’ve had a strong training group in the last couple of days.”
Tottenham Predicted XI
Maddison benched
- Tottenham Predicted XI: Vicario; Porro, Romero, Van de Ven, Udogie; Bentancur, Sarr; Johnson, Bergvall, Son; Solanke.
- Tottenham Predicted Substitutes: Kinsky (GK), Gray (DEF), Davies (DEF), Spence (DEF), Bissouma (MID), Maddison (MID), Tel (FWD), Odobert (FWD), Richarlison (FWD).
Postecoglou may be able to call upon what many consider to be his strongest defence for the first time in a long time, with Romero and Van de Ven paired in central defence. In midfield £170,000-a-week star James Maddison is likely to return to the bench again, while loanee Mathys Tel will likely join him.
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