Maresca’s worrying injury update on Cole Palmer shows he could have missed more than one game | OneFootball

Enzo Maresca has just spoken to the press after Chelsea’s big win over West Ham at the London Stadium.

While there was a lot of excitement about Man of the Match Estevao Willian, the real questions for the manager were about the player Estevao replaced, Cole Palmer.

Maresca’s update on Cole Palmer has us worried

Cole Palmer disappointed after draw. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

The team’s talisman was in the starting lineup but pulled out after the warmup. That’s never a good sign. It was made clear that the problem was “precautionary”, but that didn’t tell us much.

We were all waiting for Maresca’s update after the game, and we can’t say that it was the most positive update we could have hoped for:

“Cole in the last four or five days was not 100%,” the Chelsea boss explained.

“He tried the warm-up but he felt something. We preferred not to take any risks. We will see if it’s something important or not.”

Maresca gives more detail on Palmer’s problem

Pressed for more information, Maresca explained a bit more about the details of the issue:

“[It’s in the] groin. For the Crystal Palace game, he was not 100% but he tried to make a big effort for the club, the fans and the team. He tried tonight but it was not very good.”

Hmm. So while it’s potentially not a massive deal, the fact that it’s something he’s been managing for almost a week is not ideal. It’s a good thing he didn’t play today, and he now gets 8 days until our next game.

Even then, we hope he’s not risked against Fulham if there’s any issue. After that there’s a two week international break he could get off if we leave him out of that match and if England don’t call him up.