Enzo Maresca is hopeful Cole Palmer will not require surgery on a groin injury which forced him off in the first half of Chelsea’s 2-1 Premier League defeat against Manchester United.
Enzo Maresca is hopeful Cole Palmer will not require surgery on a groin injury which forced him off in the first half of Chelsea’s 2-1 Premier League defeat against Manchester United.
The England international, 23, has been able to start just twice in the league so far this season, and lasted only 21 minutes at Old Trafford on Saturday.
Asked whether Palmer will need to have an operation on the injury, Maresca replied: “The medical staff, they didn’t mention to me about surgery.
“I don’t know if in the next days or the next weeks, but I don’t think so, to be honest.
“He made a huge effort on last Saturday to try to play the game. Again, he tried Saturday morning, he did the test, he was OK but not 100 per cent. But he wanted to be there to his help team-mates and to be there in that kind of game.
“But unfortunately then we had have 10 players and also it was painful so we decided to change it. And it’s more day-by-day, week-by-week, game-by-game to see how it is and then decide what we do.”
Palmer is likely to be absent for Chelsea’s third-round Carabao Cup fixture against Lincoln on Tuesday, with Romeo Lavia and Benoit Badiashile certainly sidelined.
“No, they (Lavia and Badiashile) are not back for this game, unfortunately,” continued Maresca. “They both took part in the session yesterday. That is good news. Hopefully, they can be available very soon, but they are not available for tomorrow.
“Then we have some players with small problems from already a long time, like Moi (Caicedo), like Joao (Pedro), that they are trying to manage a little bit themselves. But then the rest, they are OK.”
Maresca is set to flood a number of academy players for the tie at the LNER Stadium against a side who are currently third in Sky Bet League One.
The gulf between the two teams ensures Chelsea are the overwhelming favourites to progress to the next stage.
But the Italian admitted: “These are the games that worry me most, because you can slip up very easily. Football is full of these kind of games and I am very worried about that.”
