Why Wesley Fofana laughed at Erling Haaland as Chelsea face defining days in transfer window

"No Sterling," I heard from the press box at Stamford Bridge when the team news was announced 75 minutes before kick-off. I thought to myself it must be an injury. Raheem Sterling played a pretty big role in pre-season, there is no way he would be missing from the squad for anything other than an injury.

Then I saw a statement on X (or Twitter) from Sterling's camp reacting to Enzo Maresca's decision. It was pretty Chelsea to have off-the-pitch news dominate the headlines just moments before the Blues kicked off their Premier League season at home to the reigning champions.

It was big news. Really big news. He is by no means everyone's cup of tea, Sterling. A lot of Chelsea supporters are yet to be convinced by the 29-year-old, who joined the club for a fee close to £50million over two years ago.

Sterling is, arguably, the biggest name in the Chelsea squad. He is the highest paid player at Stamford Bridge. And at 29, being on such high wages, he does not necessarily fit the Chelsea vision. Buy young with low wages and let them develop either at the club or elsewhere on loan.

With that added context, it does not come as too much of a surprise but given how he was used in pre-season, it was a bit of a shock. Ultimately, though, the club need to trim their squad size down and they now have less than two weeks to do just that with the summer transfer window closing on August 30.

There were some pretty telling and damning comments from Maresca post-match on Sterling and his future. While he did not outright say the former Manchester City winger would leave the club before the window closes, he certainly did not rule out that happening.

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"I don't know [whether Sterling will leave]. The only thing I can say is that it was a technical decision and in the next days, we will want to sit and clarify the situation but it is nothing more than that," the Chelsea head coach said.

"For all the players, they are Chelsea players. If they are going to be Chelsea players, then we will try to use them but no more than technical decision."

He added: "I want Raheem Sterling but I want all the 30 players we have. But there is no space for all of them. So for some of them, they have to leave."

The next days will be telling. Sterling will return to training on Monday with the rest of the squad at Cobham as they prepare for their Europa Conference League qualifier first-leg against Servette at Stamford Bridge.

In that game, it is likely we see heavy rotation from Maresca. If Sterling is not included in the squad, then that probably gives us our answer on whether the winger will be with the club post-August 30.

And we are now in the penultimate week of the transfer window. There are so many futures that need to be sorted out before the window closes. Sterling, Ben Chilwell, Conor Gallagher, Armando Broja, David Datro Fofana, Trevoh Chalobah - and we could go on.

Fofana reaction to Haaland

How great was it to see Wesley Fofana back in Premier League action for the first time in way over a year? Almost 450 days had passed between Fofana's 15th and 16th Premier League appearance for Chelsea.

Talk about easing you in as well. Erling Haaland was the man he had to try and stop. He couldn't. But who can?

Either way, Fofana seemed to relish the challenge of going up against one of the most physically gifted footballers in world football. The Frenchman, too, is blessed with great physical strength and an abundance of speed to go with it.

There was one moment in the second-half where the striker went head-to-head with the defender in a physical tussle. It ended up in Man City winning a throw-in. Fofana had won the battle, albeit a small one in the grand scheme of things, and Haaland was not happy.

There was an exchange of words, unfortunately inaudible, between the pair before Fofana laughed at the Norwegian while running backwards towards his own goal. It was a really nice moment. Just seeing him on the pitch again is brilliant but to get to witness what he loves doing is great.

Palmer too wide?

Cole Palmer had probably his quietest game in a Chelsea shirt since he signed last summer. The 22-year-old has been an absolute revelation since moving to Stamford Bridge but he was unable to bless us with his magic against his former club on the opening weekend of the season.

Was he too wide? There is definitely an argument to say he was. Palmer was barely getting involved. When he is at his brilliant best, everything in an attacking sense goes through him but he was too separated from the Chelsea play for the majority of the match.

Maresca likes his wingers to be very wide, to try and stretch the opposition defence. So using Palmer on the right wing feels like a bit of a waste. He was unable to come inside as much as normal and hurt the opposition.

It feels like seeing him central makes more sense. Saying that, though, this was just one game so there is every chance we get to see the experiment again in the near future. It is certainly an interesting topic and perhaps one for Maresca to clarify in his press conference on Wednesday.