Rosenior says decisions on key Chelsea duo were to prepare them for Crystal Palace trip

Liam Rosenior has shed light on some of his personnel decisions regarding Cole Palmer and Reece James in Chelsea's 1-0 Champions League win over Pafos on Wednesday.

It was not an easy win with Chelsea eventually needing a set-piece goal through Moises Caicedo to secure the much-needed three points.

Rosenior made a few surprises with his team decisions against Pafos.

James started in midfield alongside Moises Caicedo despite playing almost a full game against Brentford at the weekend.

In addition to that, Cole Palmer did not make the squad at all, forcing Enzo Fernandez to play a 90-minute game as a number 10.

After the game, Rosenior explained that Palmer's absence was due to a minor fitness issue.

"Precautionary," the Chelsea head coach said about Palmer in his post-match press conference.

"He felt something really, really minor in the game against Brentford. Actually, quite early in the game.

"So, credit to him to keep going through it. But I don't want to risk any players at this stage, especially players of Cole's quality.

"He's got a really good chance to be involved and start the game on Sunday. And we'll keep preparing him for that."

Similarly, Rosenior also admitted that he decided to hook James at half-time, with the upcoming visit to Crystal Palace's Selhurst Park in mind.

"Yeah, minutes. And making sure that he's prepared for we're playing Wednesday, Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday," Rosenior said about the Chelsea captain.

"I want to make sure Reece is available as much as possible because he's an outstanding player and he's a leader in our group."

Unfortunately, the Blues picked up a new casualty in this game, with backup goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen sustaining an injury.

"Yeah, unfortunately, he picked something up. Devastating for him because he's really impressed me in his time," he said about Jorgensen's early substitution.

"Hopefully Filip can get better really, really quick."