Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca handed huge boost with five stars back for Premier League return

Cole Palmer will be available for Chelsea's trip to Leicester on Saturday.

Star man Palmer was one of eight players to withdraw from last week’s England squad because of injury. But Blues boss Enzo Maresca expects the 22-year-old to be fit to start against his former club having fully recovered from a hefty challenge by defender Lisandro Martinez two and a half weeks ago.

Palmer played through the pain in the 1-1 draw with Arsenal before the international break. Levi Colwill and Jadon Sancho are also back in full training following issues, while club captain and Malo Gusto will be available for the lunchtime visit to the King Power Stadium.

But centre back Wesley Fofana is a concern having dropped out of the France squad with knee pain.

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Meanwhile, former creative midfielder Joe Cole has claimed that Maresca’s side are exceeding expectations. Chelsea sit third in the table, nine points behind early pacesetters .

And that he expects , who boast one of the league’s biggest squads, to finish the campaign strongly.

“I think Chelsea have overperformed this year, and I think in certain games, they’ve not got what they deserved. I can’t think of many games where they’ve not played well and for the first time against , I thought we saw signs that the back four are starting to gel.

“Wesley Fofana is getting stronger every game, Marc Cucurella is a top player, Reece James is coming back to his best, Malo Gusto is a top player, and Levi Colwill is improving as a young player.

“I think Chelsea will be one of the teams where, from January to the end of the season, if it was half a season, they’ll be right up there because it’s the trajectory that the team are heading in each week.”

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