{"id":660522,"date":"2025-10-17T05:56:58","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T09:56:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=660522"},"modified":"2025-10-17T05:56:58","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T09:56:58","slug":"five-players-fit-nottingham-forest-clash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2025\/10\/17\/five-players-fit-nottingham-forest-clash\/","title":{"rendered":"The Five Players Enzo Maresca Deemed Fit for Nottingham Forest Clash"},"content":{"rendered":"

Enzo Maresca spoke to the press ahead of his team’s clash with Nottingham Forest in the Premier League. The Italian had some bad news to share about Cole Palmer and Benoit Badiashile while also providing some cagey updates on Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez, but he did get to bring some positives as five different players were deemed fit for the tie.<\/p>\n

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Five Chelsea Players Fit To Face Nottingham Forest<\/h2>\n

Joao Pedro<\/h3>\n

After a bit of a mix-up amongst media, it was confirmed that Pedro Neto is a doubt for Saturday’s outing, thankfully, that means Joao Pedro is fully fit. The attacker has been run into the ground over recent weeks as the absence of Palmer<\/a> and Liam Delap has left him as the sole option to lead the line and one of the few options for the number ten spot.<\/p>\n

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He missed the recent international break after not being called up by Brazil so he’s had over a week to rest and prepare for this one. He’s suspended for the upcoming Champions League tie which will also provide him a chance to rest his legs.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Wesley Fofana<\/h3>\n

One of the expected names, Wesley Fofana has proven to be quite injury-prone since making his big money move from Leicester City. He can be forgiven for his latest absence which was caused by an errant punch from Filip Jorgensen. The Frenchman has been forced to sit out due to concussion protocols.<\/p>\n

He will have to bed in and find a new CB partner with Levi Colwill’s ACL tear taking him out for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n

Andrey Santos<\/h3>\n

A key name in midfield, Andrey Santos lit up Ligue 1 last season and has looked very capable in his cameos so far for the Blues. He is capable of playing as a deeper passer or as a box-to-box, or even as one of the half-space operators. With Enzo and Caicedo struggling, he provides a solid rotational option for either one.<\/p>\n

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Santos didn’t go on international duty so will be fired up and ready to go for this one, able to bring some much-needed energy to a fatigued and injury-hit squad.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Reece James<\/h3>\n

There was a collective holding of breath when Reece James was withdrawn from the England squad just before departing for international duty. Those fears have eased as the manager confirmed that he is fully fit to play Nottingham Forest.<\/p>\n

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With options slightly light in midfield, James’ versatility could be a huge bonus as he can either play as the right-back or step into midfield as the defensive-minded one of the pivot. His fitness will be key to getting through any stretch where Caicedo is dealing with something.<\/p>\n

Tosin Adarabioyo<\/h3>\n

While his form dipped before his injury, Tosin will be a valuable piece in the back line to navigate the upcoming fixture congestion. While he and Chalobah may not have the best chemistry, we could see him hidden better in pairings with Fofana, Jorrel Hato, or even Josh Acheampong.<\/p>\n

His return to fitness provides another option in the revolving door of centre-back pairings.<\/p>\n

Featured Image Credit<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Chelsea
IMAGO \/ NurPhoto
Chelsea FC v Paris Saint-Germain: Final – FIFA Club World Cup 2025 Enzo Maresca head coach of Chelsea gives instructions during the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 final match between Chelsea FC and Paris Saint-Germain at MetLife Stadium on July 13, 2025 in East Rutherford, United States. East Rutherford NJ United States PUBLICATIONxNOTxINxFRA Copyright: xJosexBretonx originalFilename:bretonhernandez-chelseaf250713_npvck.jpg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Enzo Maresca spoke to the press ahead of his team’s clash with Nottingham Forest in the Premier League. The Italian had some bad news to share about Cole Palmer and Benoit Badiashile while also providing some cagey updates on Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez, but he did get to bring some positives as five different […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2013,"featured_media":657802,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[30,11,1830,3],"tags":[3571],"class_list":["post-660522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-chelsea","category-injuries","category-premier-league","tag-reece-james"],"modified_by":"Alex Richards, LWOF Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2013"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=660522"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660522\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":660523,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660522\/revisions\/660523"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/657802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=660522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=660522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=660522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}