Chelsea will come out of the October international break with a sneaky challenging matchup at the Tricky Trees of Nottingham Forest. Over the weekend, the Blues picked up a new injury/fitness concern in Enzo Fernandez. The transfer fee record setting midfielder has some knee inflammation, and he’ll be touch-and-go for this one.
The same goes for Cole Palmer, Reece James, Andrey Santos, Tosin Adarabioyo and Wesley Fofana. All could play on Saturday, but we’ll just have to wait and see as the next weekend draws closer.
Chelsea FC at Nottingham Forest
Kickoff: Saturday, Oct 18, 2025, 12:30pm, City Ground, West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, UK
Chelsea Preview Material: Full Injury Updates Team News Starting Lineup Prediction
Google Result Probability: Chelsea win 49%, Draw 26%, Nottingham Forest win 25%
Premier League position: Chelsea 7th, 11 pts, Nottingham Forest 17th 5 pts
Blues Team News
Trevoh Chalobah should come back into the team, as he’s now finished serving his suspension. Mykhailo Mudryk remains suspended while Liam Delap, Dario Essugo and Levi Colwill remain out as long-term injury absentees. Now, as for the touch-and-go, 50/50 proposition, “late fitness test” guys.
We start with Enzo, who has inflammation on the linings of the synovial joints in his knee. He might be okay, but we’ll learn more as the week goes on.
Fofana is coming out of concussion protocol, and by now, he should be available. Palmer is coming back from a groin injury, which the club is treating very conservatively.
His minutes are being managed, so the international break came at a great time for him. As for James, the team captain is dealing with an unspecified knock, so he might be okay for this one. Santos has an unspecified condition, so we don’t know if he’ll be back or not here.
Adarabioyo has a calf problem, according to manager Enzo Maresca, who also said the Japanese defender would be out until the internationals, but not longer than that. So he should be fine here.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter