Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso has delivered an update on Cole Palmer and Levi Colwill after the pair missed the pre-season friendly loss to Juventus.
Palmer and Colwill started and played 80 minutes of Chelsea’s 2-1 loss to Tottenham in Sydney last week, but the former trained separately from the group in Hong Kong on Tuesday, while the latter was absent from the session.
With Alonso unwilling to risk the pair against Juventus, particularly with three weeks until the start of the Premier League season, he left both players out of the matchday squad on Wednesday afternoon as the Blues slumped to a 1-0 loss.
Chelsea are next in action on Saturday, when they face AC Milan at the Madya Stadium, in Indonesia and Alonso has given an update on the absent duo.
“Yes, they had a few, not injuries, discomforts,” the Spaniard told reporters.
“Cole with a whack and Levi as well, so no point to take today's risk and hopefully they will be fine for Saturday.”
Alonso was also quick to insist that Palmer is not suffering from the recurring groin injury that plagued him throughout last season, pointing out the attacking midfielder picked up the knock against Spurs.
He added: “No, it's a whack, a contact injury that he had against Spurs. So it's not that.”
Colwill, meanwhile, has only recently returned to fitness after spending the majority of the 2025-26 campaign out with an anterior cruciate ligament injury sustained during pre-season.
A second half goal from Edon Zhegrova was enough to earn Juventus another victory in pre-season and inflict a second straight defeat on the Blues.
Danny Welbeck did make his first appearance for Chelsea following his move from Brighton and there was also a return to action for Mykhailo Mudryk as he came off the bench to get eight minutes under his belt.
