Enzo Maresca has admitted it could be a risk to play Cole Palmer on Sunday as he provided a vague update on his fitness.
Palmer has been Chelsea’s key man since he joined the club from Manchester City in the summer of 2023 and has established himself as one of the best players in the Premier League.
Former Blue Pat Nevin believes there aren’t many players better than him in the world, whilst club legend Gianfranco Zola backed him to be a future Ballon d’Or winner.
Maresca provides update on Palmer’s fitness
The 22-year-old has picked up where he left off last season and already has seven goals and five assists in the first ten games of the campaign.
Dimitar Berbatov likened Palmer’s move to Chelsea to when Tottenham signed Gareth Bale, and he’s gone from a relative unknown to a superstar.
However, Palmer was on the receiving end of a nasty challenge from Lisandro Martinez during Sunday’s draw against Manchester United at Old Trafford.
The Blues have been left sweating on Palmer’s fitness after it was reported he would undergo a scan on his knee following the incident.
There’s yet to be any news on those results and speaking ahead of Thursday’s Conference League game against Noah, Maresca provided a vague update.
“Cole didn’t train yesterday,” he told his pre-match press conference.
“We will see today if he is able to train with us.We hope so [if fit vs Arsenal]. But we need to see and then decide.”
Maresca was later questioned on whether it would be a risk to play Palmer against Arsenal on Sunday and replied:
“Yeah, for sure. We said he didn’t train the last two days. We’ll see. The tackle was not a normal one. Hopefully he can be back.”
Whilst Chelsea do have plenty of other attacking options if Palmer were to miss Sunday’s game it would be a huge blow for the Blues.
Any absence would likely see Christopher Nkunku or Joao Felix take the number ten role, but hopefully Chelsea are just being coy and not giving anything away in regards to Palmer.