Romelu Lukaku to sit out Chelsea opener against Crystal Palace

Posted Friday, August 13, 2021 by PA

Chelsea’s record signing Romelu Lukaku will not be involved in his side’s Premier League opener at home to Crystal Palace.

Striker Lukaku joined the Blues for a reported £97.5million on Thursday, but the transfer from Inter Milan was not concluded in time for him to feature on Saturday afternoon.

Hakim Ziyech is sidelined due to the shoulder injury he sustained in the midweek UEFA Super Cup success against Villarreal, while N’Golo Kante has “some issues” following that match and is a doubt.

New Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira is without summer loan signing Conor Gallagher for the trip to Stamford Bridge.

The midfielder joined the Eagles from Chelsea and is ineligible to face his parent club, while captain Luka Milivojevic will be absent due to personal reasons.

Ebere Eze and Nathan Ferguson are long-term absentees after both ruptured their Achilles in May. Michael Olise, who joined from Reading in July, is out with a back injury but due to return to training this month, and the Eagles are set to give debuts to defenders Marc Guehi and Joachim Andersen on Saturday.

Chelsea provisional squad: Mendy, Arrizabalaga, Bettinelli, Rudiger, Alonso, Zouma, Chalobah, Christensen, Silva, Chilwell, James, Azpilicueta, Emerson, Jorginho, Loftus-Cheek, Kante, Kovacic, Mount, Havertz, Pulisic, Hudson-Odoi, Werner, Abraham.

Crystal Palace provisional squad: Guaita, Ward, Kouyate, Guehi, Mitchell, Riedewald, McArthur, Schlupp, Ayew, Benteke, Zaha, Butland, Clyne, Tomkins, Andersen, Kelly, Banks, Rak-Sakyi, Mateta, Street, Matthews, Hannam, Wells-Morrison, Boateng.