Chelsea have had a decent start to their new campaign under Enzo Maresca as they are one of the two unbeaten teams in the Premier League this season.
With two wins and a draw, the Blues are only behind reigning champions Liverpool, who have registered a perfect start to the 2025/26 season.
However, despite the positives, Chelsea have been extremely unfortunate with injuries as they saw Levi Colwill get sidelined with an ACL injury during a preseason training session.
Later, Cole Palmer and Liam Delap also picked up injuries in subsequent matches before the international break.
Benoit Badiashile and Romeo Lavia are also yet to feature for the Blues this season after reportedly picking up knocks during their Club World Cup triumph.
Things have gone bad to worse as new signing Dario Essugo has returned home from his international duty for Portugal U21 team after sustaining a thigh issue during training.
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"The Chelsea midfielder was excused from training due to a muscle problem in his right thigh, which he suffered after training," statement from the Portuguese FA read.
‘The athlete was evaluated by the Portuguese Football Federation’s Health and Performance Department and was declared unavailable.’
What did Enzo Maresca say about Club World Cup playing a role in Chelsea's injuries?
With Essugo also injured, Chelsea's injury list keeps on rising and it is a big setback for the young midfielder, who moved to West London from Sporting CP for £18.5m transfer fees.
🚨BREAKING: Portuguese FF announces that 20 year old Chelsea midfielder; Dario Essugo was excused from training due to a muscular injury.
— Blue Season Daily (@BlueSeasonDaily) September 8, 2025
Portuguese FF: “ The Chelsea midfielder was excused from training due to a muscle problem in his right thigh, which he suffered after… pic.twitter.com/uaOFWCHSy2
The 20-year-old, who spent his 2024/25 campaign at Las Palmas in Spain on loan, is still awaiting his Premier League debut after being an unused substitute in the first three league games this season.
Ahead of the international break, Maresca shared that he is unsure whether Club World Cup matches have had an adverse effect on Chelsea players this season.
"I said before the season started that unfortunately I don’t have any answer, because it’s the first time that you have a competition during the summer, so you don’t know," Maresca opined.
"I don’t know. Not me, no sports science, not any doctor can help us to say we’re going to have this problem or this problem. We don’t know.
"It’s something new and unfortunately it happened. I said yesterday in the press conference, I think it’s not random that Levi [Colwill], Moi [Caicedo], Cole [Palmer], and Liam [picked up knocks]. It is what it is."
Chelsea will return to Premier League action after the international break when they lock horns against Brentford on September 13 away from home.
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