Chelsea are sweating on Cole Palmer’s fitness ahead of their crunch clash against Arsenal this Sunday.
The England international was on the receiving end of a horror tackle from Lisandro Martinez in Chelsea’s draw with Manchester United last weekend and hasn’t trained all week.
Martinez was booked for his late lunge on Palmer, but he was lucky to avoid a red[/caption]
The talented attacker was left with stud marks on his knee but he did manage to play the last couple of minutes of stoppage time.
However, heading into this crunch clash, Chelsea‘s star man isn’t guaranteed to be involved.
Is Cole Palmer fit to play for Chelsea?
Palmer’s match-fitness for this fixture remains unclear.
Since the incident, he’s yet to be seen at Cobham, and Blues fans face a nervous wait to see if he’ll be available.
Speaking immediately after the draw at Old Trafford, Enzo Maresca confirmed that Palmer needed to be assessed.
The Blues boss said: “He was in the changing room with ice, so we are waiting now. Hopefully, it’s nothing important.”
Then, ahead of Chelsea’s record 8-0 win over Noah in the Europa Conference League, Maresca confirmed that Palmer hadn’t trained.
Of course, he isn’t part of the Europa Conference League squad, so wouldn’t have played at Stamford Bridge anyway.
He was again asked about Palmer at his pre-match press conference, saying: “Cole didn’t train yesterday so we will see today if he can train with us.
“We hope [he will be available for Sunday]. We need to wait and see and then decide.”
Despite this injury, Palmer has been included in Lee Carsley‘s final squad as England interim manager.
The Three Lions face Greece and the Republic of Ireland in the Nations League, and the fact Palmer has been included suggests Carsley and co don’t believe the injury to be too bad.
Maresca sounded more positive about Palmer’s involvement in his latest press conference.
The Blues hope he’ll be able to train on Saturday, giving them a decision to make.
He said: “He’s better. He’s getting better. If he can walk and have dinner, that doesn’t mean he is completely fit.
“He’s getting better. Hopefully, we can have him for the session at least on Saturday and then we can take a decision.”
So far this season, Palmer has picked up where he left off from the last campaign.
The 22-year-old has seven goals and five assists in ten top-flight matches already.
He scored four in the first 45 minutes against Brighton in Chelsea’s recent 4-2 win to set a new Premier League record.
Of the 20 goals that Chelsea have scored, Palmer is directly involved in 12 of those, showing just how important he is to Chelsea.
If he can’t play, Christopher Nkunku or Joao Felix would be in line to take his place, but for a game like this against Arsenal, they need Palmer to be at 100 per cent and raring to go.
