Liam Rosenior reveals why Cole Palmer is not starting for Chelsea against Arsenal | OneFootball

Blues look to be playing new 3-5-2 formation in Carabao Cup semi-final decider, with Estevao back in squad

Palmer was named as a substitute against Arsenal as Chelsea carry on managing his minutes during an injury-plagued season, with the England star having played the full 90 against West Ham on Saturday after coming on at half-time in the Champions League victory over Napoli last week.

Chelsea do have Estevao Willian back, the teenage sensation included on the bench on Tuesday night having missed the win over West Ham for personal reasons after returning home to Brazil on compassionate leave.

“Este, credit to him, has flown back from Brazil,” Rosenior told Sky Sports ahead of the Arsenal game. “He’s not in a place to start. Cole, we need to be really, really careful and think about actually the possibility of extra time.

“Cole is somebody that we know can change and affect the game, we’ve got to manage him in the right way.”

Rosenior made four changes from the team that fought back from 2-0 down to topple West Ham, with Trevoh Chalobah, Marc Cucurella, Andrey Santos and Joao Pedro replacing Benoit Badiashile, the injured Jamie Gittens, Palmer and Alejandro Garnacho, whose second-half brace in the first leg kept Chelsea in touch.

It looked as if Rosenior had opted for a new 3-5-2 shape with Malo Gusto and Cucurella as the wing-backs and Joao Pedro and Liam Delap both up front - something Mikel Arteta said Arsenal had prepared for given his opposite number’s past use of the formation.

However, Rosenior was keeping tight-lipped on the system ahead of the game.

“It would be crazy for me to confirm anything tactically before the game to be honest,” he said.

Chelsea are also without both Reece James and Pedro Neto against Arsenal, as well as Gittens, Tosin Adarabioyo, Romeo Lavia, Dario Essugo, Levi Colwill, Filip Jorgensen and Mykhailo Mudryk.

It was initially reported that James was simply being rested for the game as Chelsea continue to carefully manage their captain’s fitness after previous injury problems, with the right-back having played only 10 minutes off the bench against West Ham.

However, Rosenior revealed that both James and Neto had failed fitness tests earlier on Tuesday - though he hoped that both would return for Saturday’s trip to bottom club Wolves in the Premier League.

"Unfortunately a few issues, Pedro and Reece had fitness tests this morning,” the Chelsea head coach said.

“I tried to leave it as late as possible but they are not available. It's a shame, hopefully they will be back for the next one."