Chelsea's Emerson Palmieri to make Premier League debut against Burnley

Emerson Palmieri will make his first League start for Chelsea on Thursday.

Palmieri has played just 105 minutes for Chelsea since joining from Roma for an initial £17.5m in January.

But the left wing back is going to face Burnley with Chelsea expecting Marcos Alonso to be handed a three-game ban for stamping on Southampton striker Shane Long on Saturday.

Chelsea also face Southampton in the FA Cup semi-final on Sunday and Conte said: “Tomorrow Emerson will play. He’s ready in the physical and tactical aspect. I don’t know if he is ready to play two in three days. For sure he will play against Burnley.”

Antonio Rudiger is also in contention for the match after being left out of the squad four days ago. The German international admitted he didn’t know why he’d been ignored and it was reported that it was because of an interview he gave following the draw to West Ham.

But Conte said: “First of all he didn’t say anything wrong. I can confirm it was a tactical decision. Will he play a part for the rest of the season? Why not?

“Maybe tomorrow there will be another player on the bench or in the stand. I have the possibility to rotate and I do this when I can or if a player is a bit tired.”

The contest at Turf Moor takes place less than 72 hours before Chelsea take on Southampton at Wembley.

Conte claims he’s only concentrating on Thursday night though and said: “Tomorrow you will see my decision, my starting XI. We must be focused on the present, don’t look so far.

“We have two important games, starting with Burnley. To play twice in two-and-a-half days is not simple, we have to recover very well. But I think we have to try to do our best in the League

“But Southampton (who play on Leicester Thursday) are in the same situation. You can be frustrated, but we have the same time to recover and we have to accept it.”