{"id":661931,"date":"2025-12-02T09:05:35","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T14:05:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=661931"},"modified":"2025-12-02T09:05:35","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T14:05:35","slug":"chelsea-world-class-leeds-clash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2025\/12\/02\/chelsea-world-class-leeds-clash\/","title":{"rendered":"‘The Reality is No’: Two Key Players Not Fully Fit For Leeds Clash"},"content":{"rendered":"

After a busy week that saw them take on Barcelona and Arsenal in highly intense matches, the Blues are heading into their fixture with Leeds largely strung together. A suspension to Moises Caicedo is already a loss but there are two key players who the manager has confirmed are definitely not capable of playing a full 90 minutes, limiting the impact they could have against Daniel Farke’s physical side.<\/p>\n

Two Chelsea Players Not Fit To Play 90 Against Leeds United<\/h2>\n

Reece James Managed<\/h3>\n

After back-to-back impressive performances in the middle of the park, Enzo Maresca ruled out the chance we could see Reece James for another 90 minutes. In speaking on the Englishman, the manager said<\/a> “the reality is no” the defender\/midfielder cannot complete another 90 and his minutes will have to be managed.<\/p>\n

Read More:\u00a0<\/strong>Mikel Arteta Gives Reaction to Chelsea 1-1 Arsenal and Latest on Saliba<\/a><\/p>\n

For anyone familiar with James and his injury history. The fact that he’s stayed fit for so long is a testament to the manager’s ability to limit his workload and keep him away from potential injury. Sacrificing him in a match against Leeds is a small price to pay for the masterful performances over the past week.<\/p>\n

Cole Palmer Latest<\/h3>\n

Speaking more recently on the status of one Cole Palmer, Maresca assured fans that the attacker is available but it’s a case of building his match fitness, he is hoping<\/a> to “give him some minutes” to try and build up to a full 90 but he won’t be getting a lot to do even if he does feature against the Whites.<\/p>\n

Read More:\u00a0<\/strong>Chelsea Legend Heaps Praise on Brazilian Summer Signing<\/a><\/p>\n

Palmer’s abilities will arguably be missed more so in this match than in the past two as the opposition is likely to use a stubborn defensive block with their physicality making things difficult for the Blues. Any minutes he does play could be useful to turn the tide, depending on the game state.<\/p>\n

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

\"Enzo
IMAGO \/ NurPhoto
Newcastle United v Chelsea – Carabao Cup Fourth Round Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca looks on during the Carabao Cup Round of 16 match between Newcastle United and Chelsea at St. James s Park in Newcastle, England, on October 30, 2024. Newcastle Tyne and Wear United Kingdom PUBLICATIONxNOTxINxFRA Copyright: xMIxNewsx originalFilename:fletcher-newcastl241030_np384.jpg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After a busy week that saw them take on Barcelona and Arsenal in highly intense matches, the Blues are heading into their fixture with Leeds largely strung together. A suspension to Moises Caicedo is already a loss but there are two key players who the manager has confirmed are definitely not capable of playing a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2013,"featured_media":648115,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_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":[3,11,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-661931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-premier-league","category-chelsea","category-news"],"modified_by":"Alex Richards, LWOF Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661931","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=661931"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661931\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":661944,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661931\/revisions\/661944"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/648115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=661931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=661931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=661931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}