Chelsea team news vs Fulham and predicted lineup | OneFootball

Chelsea face a huge battle to secure Champions League football this season as they scrap with Aston Villa, Manchester City and Nottingham Forest for the last two places in Europe’s elite.

The game at Craven Cottage has not be scheduled for live TV broadcast, with the match set for kick-off at 2pm GMT on Sunday afternoon.

Chelsea predicted line-up vs Fulham

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Sanchez, Chalobah, Adarabioyo, Colwill, Cucurella, Fernandez, Caicedo, Madueke, Palmer, Neto, Jackson

Enzo Maresca rested a host of key names for their UEFA Conference League quarter-final tie against Legia Warsaw on Thursday night, knowing the game was practically won after a 3-0 first leg victory.

After surviving a scare to lose on the night 2-1 but win 4-2 on aggregate, Maresca will be hopeful of beating Fulham after refreshing his squad – having made seven changes from the team that drew 2-2 with Ipswich last weekend.

Robert Sanchez should return in goal while Trevoh Chalobah is expected to come back at right-back, with Levi Colwill returning next to Adarabioyo.

Maresca played a makeshift midfield partnership of Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Reece James against Legia but Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo should be restored to the middle the park.

Noni Madueke and Pedro Neto should also come back in on the wings after being benched against Legia, with Cole Palmer just behind Nicolas Jackson.

Chelsea team news vs Fulham

For Maresca, this game might be about managing minutes knowing the team have a huge semi-final to prepare for against Djugarden on May 1.

He’ll want to make sure all his best players are fresh coming into that so expect him to make some early subs if the team get off to a good start against the Cottagers – especially with the likes of Palmer and Jackson playing in midweek.

Chelsea had been struggling with a huge injury list this season but that situation is now improving and they could be handed a boost with regards to Romeo Lavia’s fitness.

The midfielder has struggled for game time due to constant injuries this season and hasn’t played since the 1-0 loss to Arsenal on March 16, when he was subbed off with a hamstring blow.

Now there have been reports from Football London that Lavia has been seen on the grass in training and has a chance of making the bench against Fulham.

Otherwise, Chelsea remain without Wesley Fofana and Omari Kellyman for the season, while Marc Guiu is still out and Mykhailo Mudryk is suspended.

Can Palmer continue his resurgence?

It’s been a tough start to 2025 for Chelsea’s talisman but he finally broke his barren run without a goal or assist against Tottenham earlier this month by assisting Enzo Fernandez’s winner and last week as he provided an assist for Jadon Sancho’s equaliser.

Previously he had struggled during a run of 10 matches without a goal contribution, which is unlike the England international, but now he appears to be back in the swing of things.

However, he’ll be keen to get back amongst the goals, having not scored since the 2-2 draw against Bournemouth on January 14.

Maresca said he decided to play Palmer against Legia to build his confidence and get him scoring goals again – while also building up his fitness after picking up a small injury before the international break.

“For Cole, he had a small problem before the international break, so again, for him it was to use him 45 minutes, one hour, and then just to give them a little bit tempo and improve that and be better Sunday on the game,” he said. “Hopefully very soon Nico [Jackson] and Cole can start to score goals because they are very important for us.”