Enzo Maresca provides latest update on Cole Palmer fitness – and reveals duo are close to return | OneFootball

Enzo Maresca is hopeful Cole Palmer’s persistent groin injury will not require surgery.

Palmer has missed Premier League games against West Ham and Fulham this campaign with the issue but started against United at the weekend, before being forced off.

And ahead of the EFL Cup clash with Lincoln, boss Maresca said: “He already did a huge effort on Saturday to play the game.

“He tried Saturday morning, he did the tests and was okay but not 100%. But he wanted to be there to help his teammates. Unfortunately we then had 10 players and he was in pain so we decide to change him. It’s more day by day, week by week, game by game to see how he is and decide what we do.

“The medical staff didn’t mention to me about surgery until today. I don’t know if in the next days or weeks but I don’t think so to be honest.”

Chelsea have suffered from numerous injuries already this season with Levi Colwill, Romeo Lavia, Liam Delap and Dario Essugo all suffering problems.

And Maresca has admitted it is difficult to manage: “It’s a situation that we need to manage because if we have Moi (Caicedo) with a small problem and for example Romeo or Essugo are fit we can decide to give Moi some rest but in this moment they are both injured.

“I don’t think it’s random the amount of injuries we have. We need to learn and manage the situation.

“Cole is one, and then we have some players who have had problems for a long time like Moises Caicedo and Joao Pedro. They are trying to manage it a little bit themselves, but then the rest are okay.”

Maresca also confirmed that Romeo Lavia and Benoit Badiashile are not ready to return against Lincoln: “[Benoit and Romeo] will not be back for this game, unfortunately. They both took part in the session yesterday, which is good news, and hopefully they can be available soon.”

Being with 10 men for the majority of the first half in Manchester, the Blues struggled to cope and conceded twice before the break, and the Italian manager said any team would have struggled in those circumstances.

“I hope we don’t have more games where we are down to 10 players after three minutes,” he said. “But the game was dictated by the red card. When it was 10 vs 10 we had almost 70% possession.

“It was difficult for us and for any club in the world to play 100 minutes with 10 players.”