Enzo Maresca provides Cole Palmer injury update after setback for Chelsea star | OneFootball

Cole Palmer could avoid surgery on a groin injury, hopes Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca, after the England star was substituted off in the first half of the team’s 2-1 Premier League defeat at Manchester United.

The 23-year-old has managed only two starts this term in the league, with just 21 minutes at Old Trafford before an early exit.

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.

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Palmer, right, was substituted off in the 21st minute at Old Trafford (PA)

“He made a huge effort 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 help his teammates and to be there in that kind of game.

“But unfortunately then we had 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.”

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Maresca is set to shuffle his pack against Lincoln (PA)

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.

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Palmer ‘made a huge effort’ to play on Saturday, says Enzo Maresca (Reuters)

“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.

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Romeo Lavia has returned to training but will miss the trip to Lincoln (PA)

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.”