Chelsea have taken the surprise decision to leave Cole Palmer out of their squad for the Europa Conference League group phase.

The Blues secured their place in this stage of the competition through edging past Servette in the playoff round by a 3-2 aggregate scoreline.

In last week's draw, Chelsea were handed fixtures against Gent, Heidenheim, Astana, Shamrock Rovers, Panathinaikos and Noah FC.

Enzo Maresca will be expecting the Premier League giants to finish in the top eight of the 36-team standings in order to be seeded for the last 16.

At the very least, a team of Chelsea's stature should finish in the top 24, guaranteeing them a spot in the last 32 early in 2025.

Given Chelsea's bloated squad, several players were always going to miss out on selection, but Maresca and club officials have made the call to leave Palmer and two other key names out for the next six games in the competition.

Palmer among those to miss out

England international Palmer is the most high-profile name to miss out given the impact that he has made since arriving from Manchester City just over 12 months ago.

Defender Wesley Fofana and midfielder Romeo Lavia - a pair who missed all but a few minutes of 2023-24 through injury - have also been excluded from the squad list.

Chelsea have seemingly taken the decision to manage the workload of all three players, Palmer's previous season being extended until July 14 due to representing his country at Euro 2024.

Marc Cucurella finds himself in the same boat, yet the Spanish left-back has been named with Ben Chilwell left out as expected.

Cesare Casadei and Carney Chukwuemeka, who had previously been available for transfer, are included and appear in line to earn game time on the continent.

Homegrown talent Josh Acheampong, Kaino Dyer and Tyrique George are included on the B list, the trio also seemingly in the plans of Maresca.

The West Londoners kick off their campaign with a home fixture versus Belgian side Gent on October 3, the six matches in question being played between that date and December 19.

Chelsea's 27-player squad in full

Goalkeepers: Sanchez, Jorgensen, Bergstrom

Defenders: Disasi, Cucurella, Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Colwill*, James, Gusto, Acheampong*, Veiga

Midfielders: Fernandez, Madueke, Chukwuemeka, Nkunku, Sancho, Dewsbury-Hall, Caicedo, Casadei, George*, Dyer*

Forwards: Neto, Mudryk, Felix, Jackson, Guiu body check tags ::