Chelsea’s Cole Palmer picked up a knock after a bad challenge from Manchester United defender Lisandro Martinez during last weekend’s clash between the two teams, and there has been some concern that the player could miss Sunday’s game against Arsenal as a result.
The foul left stud marks on Palmer’s knee, causing him to limp away from Old Trafford, and the area reportedly remained sore throughout Chelsea’s trip back to London.
Matt Law reported for The Telegraph that Palmer was due to have a scan earlier this week, and Enzo Maresca has now confirmed that the player has been absent from training.
“Cole didn’t train yesterday,” Maresca confirmed ahead of Chelsea’s Europa Conference League game in midweek. “We will see today if he is able to train with us.
“Yeah, for sure (it would be a risk to play him against Arsenal). He didn’t train the last two days. We’ll see. The tackle was not a normal one. Hopefully he can be back.”
The quotes are consistent with Law’s report, which stated that Chelsea hoped the soreness would settle and that he hadn’t suffered any serious damage. For the time being, the expectation should still be that Palmer is in the starting lineup on Sunday.
But the longer the player remains absent from training, the more likely that he might actually miss the game.
Palmer won’t be involved for the Blues in their Europa Conference League game in midweek, as he hasn’t been named in their squad for the competition.
With such a large number of players at Chelsea, some had to be sacrificed, and the Conference League was evidently viewed as a chance to give Palmer a rest.
Jadon Sancho was also struggling with an illness last week, missing training for a few days. Maresca confirmed he’s a doubt to face Arsenal as well.
“Jadon is also out tomorrow (against FC Noah), with illness,” Maresca said. “He is recovering from that, but he also had a knock in a session. We will see if he can be available for Sunday’s game, otherwise it will be after the international break for him.”
