Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca is hoping to have Cole Palmer, Nicolas Jackson and Marc Cucurella available for their Premier League season opener against Manchester City.

The Blues have just one more pre-season friendly to play before they host the champions at Stamford Bridge on Sunday 18 August.

Maresca’s side welcome Inter Milan on Saturday, having ended their tour of the US with a 2-1 defeat to Real Madrid in North Carolina on Wednesday.

Palmer and Cucurella have been afforded a break after reaching the Euro 2024 final with England and Spain respectively, while Jackson has been nursing an ankle injury sustained while playing for Senegal earlier this summer.

"We will see,” said Maresca when asked about the trio by reporters in America.

“I'm not sure for Inter. Hopefully the City game.

“They are all important players. Between Cole and Nicolas last year they scored almost 40 goals so they are both very important. And Marc, too. The important thing is they start with us and soon we can use them."

The Blues struggled defensively again as Los Blancos inflicted a third defeat in five on Chelsea in the US.

Dani Ceballos opened the scoring, pouncing to tap in from close range after Chelsea had been cut open far too easily.

Brahim Diaz would then add a second after a brilliant pass from Vinicius Jr left the Blues scrambling, before Noni Madueke halved the deficit.

Speaking of the defensive woes, Maresca added: “One of my first meetings with the squad was about the number of goals we conceded last year with the defensive line being very high. It is something that we are trying to work on.

“Today offensively, once again, I think we were there because the patterns are there and we created chances. The problem has been defensively and when I say defensively, I don’t just mean the defensive line. All of the players.”