The games Cole Palmer will miss during 6 week absence and what it could cost Chelsea | OneFootball

The bombshell news dropped by Enzo Maresca in his press conference today was that creative midfielder Cole Palmer isn’t even close to a return to the team yet. His groin problem is far more severe than was feared.

The issue has been troubling Palmer for a while, and the hope was that shutting him down for a few games plus this international fortnight would allow him to get back to full fitness.

Instead, he’s apparently got six more weeks out – although it’s been clarified that this is until he’s back on the pitch rather than in training.

Palmer set to miss important run as Chelsea look to get season back on track

Cole Palmer holds his groin against Bayern Munich.

So what’s he going to miss with all that time out? If we take Maresca’s answer very literally and call it six weeks, the attacking midfielder would return for a huge game against Arsenal on the 30th of November.

Between now and then we face Nottingham Forest tomorrow, then Ajax and Sunderland next week. After that is an EFL Cup game against Wolves, Spurs in the Premier League then our long Champions League trip to face Qarabag. Finally, before the November international break we play Wolves again, in the league.

It’s not the hardest list of fixtures, but that’s exactly why we need Palmer there to help us break down some of these teams who are likely going to sit deep and defend.

In other news…

Maresca was also asked in his press conference how a team without Palmer, along with defender Levi Colwill, could get some more creative, progressive passing going, especially when they face defensive teams. He had an interesting answer.

He also announced that, Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo and Pedro Neto are all doubts for tomorrow, with the manager claiming that they would be ruled out of tomorrow’s game entirely if they weren’t able to train today.