Chelsea face Nottingham Forest on Monday with a depleted wide line after injuries and a suspension reduced their senior options. Estêvão is recently injured and Mykhailo Mudryk remains suspended, leaving the Blues light on experienced wingers.

Interim boss Calum McFarlane did not disclose any specific problems for Pedro Neto and Alejandro Garnacho during his prematch press conference, so their absence from the matchday squad came as a surprise. According to Nizaar Kinsella, Neto and Garnacho are both battling knocks. While neither is expected to need long on the sidelines, they were not deemed fit enough to play in Monday’s big game.

That situation has forced McFarlane into selection adjustments. Cole Palmer gets the nod on the right wing, a tactical choice that is not particularly unusual, while 18-year-old Jesse Derry is handed his first senior start for the club.

Derry’s promotion will be welcomed by supporters who have been keen to see the teenager given more minutes, particularly as Chelsea’s senior alternatives have struggled to make a consistent impact. Gittens’s injury struggles have left him unable to win over his new supporters, while Garnacho’s impressive work rate has been countered by an underwhelming end product that has sparked suggestions he could leave the club this summer.

Like Garnacho, Derry joined Chelsea last summer, signing from the Crystal Palace academy. The 18-year-old has impressed at youth level, scoring six goals in 17 PL2 appearances and adding five goals in eight UEFA Youth League matches.

McFarlane will hope the blend of Cole Palmer’s experience on the wing and Derry’s youth spark can offset the temporary losses. Neto and Garnacho remain part of the squad long term, but Chelsea will be without both for this fixture as they manage short-term knocks.

Calum McFarlane has publicly defended Cole Palmer amid a season in which the Chelsea forward’s output has fallen well short of his earlier campaigns. McFarlane described the situation as largely down to fitness and adaptation rather than a loss of form, and he backed Palmer to play a decisive role from now until the end of the season and into the World Cup.

Palmer has 10 goals across all competitions this term, compared with 18 the previous season and 27 under Mauricio Pochettino. His overall goal contributions have declined sharply from 42 in his debut season and 32 in Enzo Maresca’s first year to just 13 this campaign. In the Premier League he has provided only one assist, and of his nine league goals five have been penalties.

McFarlane pointed to the impact of a groin problem diagnosed as pubalgia after Palmer pulled out of the warm-up before Chelsea’s second game. The manager noted the player’s recent progress and his struggle with basic actions early in the season. Palmer himself admitted in April that he was only just starting to feel comfortable shooting again, and sprinting was also a challenge for the 23-year-old.

“It’s been a difficult period for Cole,” McFarlane stressed. “He’s had his first injury that he’s pretty much ever had in his career and he’s had to learn how to deal with that.

“I don’t agree with the narrative that he isn’t playing well. There are obviously games where he can impact more but there have also been a lot of occasions where he’s created a lot of good chances for players. He can’t control whether that’s finished.

“It’s just a case of building that consistency. I’m really pleased with Cole. He shows us his talent every single day, his energy and his enthusiasm to play. He’s still a top, top player, one of the best in the world. I have no concerns over Cole being ready to impact games from now to the end of the season, and hopefully in the World Cup, in big moments for England.”

Statistically Palmer is still creating 1.23 chances per 90, though 78 players in the division have produced more and five teammates have created more opportunities. Navigating injury and tactical changes under Liam Rosenior has been difficult, and McFarlane has indicated he will lean on Maresca’s principles to find stability and restore Palmer’s influence.

Mauricio Pochettino has laid out a blunt assessment of the upheaval at Chelsea since BlueCo took control, arguing the new direction has altered expectations and hindered short-term results. Now in charge of the USMNT, he discussed those challenges on The Overlap and urged clearer communication between owners and football staff.

Pochettino warned that the club’s shift from a win-now model to a focus on young, high-potential signings has produced few clear successes so far and left supporters unconvinced. “They have a plan that is maybe completely different than what was used to be Chelsea in the past with [former owner Roman] Abramovich,” Pochettino acknowledged. “It’s true that it’s not easy because it’s difficult for people to understand.

“When I’m thinking about a new project, the most important [thing] is how we can translate and to show what is the plan and what we want to achieve with that and how is going to be the process to arrive where we want to arrive. Sometimes, in football, it’s difficult to explain because people don’t listen. They only listen to results.

“And then because there’s too many people making the decisions—football is not an ordinary business—sometimes people struggle. They need to explain the plan.”

Supporters have flagged the squad’s youth: Tosin Adarabioyo is the oldest current player at 28, while Marc Cucurella and Enzo Fernández are 27 and 25. Pochettino said that lack of experience constrained his work in 2023–24. “What I understood [about the plan] didn’t happen after … and maybe I was wrong,” he continued.

He reflected on the progress made under his tenure: the side rose from 12th in the Premier League to sixth, finished the season strongly, reached the Carabao Cup final and lost an FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City. “But after, when things didn’t match what was our vision, we said it’s better to split and to give the possibility to the club to do what they want to do.”

Pochettino described how recruitment decisions were often preordained. “When we signed, it was already done, all the signings,” Pochettino acknowledged. “I was involved, I said O.K. when we signed [Axel] Disasi because [Wesley] Fofana was injured in preseason, and Cole Palmer. With these two, we were involved in the decisions.

“It’s more about a philosophic idea that the coaching staff … we need to be involved. We need to be a part—an important part—of the decisions because, if not, it’s not easy.

Calling the shots at Stamford Bridge are co-owner Behdad Eghbali, co-sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart and recruitment chiefs Joe Shields and Sam Jewell. Pochettino urged owners and recruitment teams to balance data and analysis with coaches’ judgement on passion, pressure handling and tactical fit.

“In the moment that we arrived, we completely supported the club in all the decisions that they already made,” he concluded. “What happened after, I don’t know. If you accept to go to Chelsea, it is more clear after us, the idea of the management of the club.

“I’m not complaining because it was also my decision to leave the club, but I think to understand the new people that arrive, the new ownership, the new football, the new coaches, the new sporting directors, the new everything, we sometimes underestimate the analog things. ]