Chelsea: Calum McFarlane rubbishes injury worries after double England World Cup snubs

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Evening Standard

·22 mai 2026

Chelsea: Calum McFarlane rubbishes injury worries after double England World Cup snubs

Cole Palmer and Levi Colwill were both left out of Three Lions squad

Chelsea interim head coach Calum McFarlane is choosing to look at the positives after a number of his team’s stars received disappointing World Cup selection news.

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Brazil confirmed their 26-man squad on Monday with no place in the group for Joao Pedro, whilst Thomas Tuchel has left out Cole Palmer and Levi Colwill from England selection.

Chelsea had a truncated pre-season last summer after their successful Club World Cup campaign meant they enjoyed only a shortened break and two-week warm-up to the new season, with noticeable tiredness amongst the squad during early Premier League matches.

A number of players are expected to take part in North America, amongst them captain Reece James who has been named in Tuchel’s squad.

“You can always look at it from different perspectives,” said McFarlane, who will lead the team for the final time during Sunday’s game against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.

“The preparation would have been fine if they were selected to play in the World Cup.

“They would have had amazing experiences testing themselves at that level. There’s a positive to it from that view but it depends how you want to look at it.”

Snubbed: Cole Palmer will play no part at the World Cup

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Palmer’s exclusion was perhaps one of the biggest surprises of Friday’s squad announcement, although it came following a highly disrupted season for the 24-year-old.

A groin injury in August meant he played only twice in the league until the end of November and even when in the team his form has been a long way from his best.

McFarlane said that injury is no longer an issue and Palmer will be fit to face Sunderland following positive showings in the FA Cup final defeat to Manchester City and in Tuesday’s win against Tottenham.

“I’m not a medical expert so I don’t know the detail around it, but Cole is fit and I think he showed that on Tuesday night and in the cup final against City,” he said. “I thought he performed really well in both games, so Cole is fit. Cole is ready to play.”

James is also fit to feature after recovering from the hamstring injury that caused him to miss Tuesday’s win as well as a large part of the season run-in.

The defender sustained the problem playing against Newcastle in March and only returned to action against Liverpool earlier in May.

“Reece has trained today,” said McFarlane. “We’re playing a day-by-day with Reece. He’s fit, he’s in good condition. We just know that we have to manage Reece correctly over the last couple of games.

“He played a lot of minutes in the final. I’ll go back to it, it’s a tough game. It’s a really good side, so it’s going to take a lot out of you.

“We didn’t want to risk him on Tuesday. We felt like we had enough to see the game out, which was correct. We’re hoping to have Reece back on Sunday.”