Chelsea midfielder Cole Palmer will miss up to six more weeks following a recurring groin injury, manager Enzo Maresca confirmed on Friday ahead of Saturday’s Premier League visit to Nottingham Forest.
After recovering from the injury in August and scoring goals in back-to-back games against Brentford and Bayern Munich, Palmer exacerbated the issue during Chelsea’s 2–1 loss to Manchester United on September 20. Due to this, he will also miss Chelsea’s forthcoming Premier League match against Sunderland and Champions League matchup with Ajax.
After admitting that his early optimism had been misguided, “This is my mistake — he needs to be out for six more weeks,” Maresca admitted. He added: “We try to protect Cole as much as we can. The medical staff are not magicians. We hope six weeks are enough. We need to see it step-by-step. For sure, he’s going to be okay.”
According to the manager, Palmer is handling the setback positively. “He looks relaxed. He has tried to recover from the injury and is doing all the therapy,” Maresca said.
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Maresca was frank about the challenge Chelsea now face. “First of all, to replace Cole, it’s difficult. Cole is a very important player for us, one of the best in the league,” he said. “We don’t have another player like Cole. Cole is unique.”
Palmer is not the only victim of the injury problem. Levi Colwill is still recovering from an ACL tear, and central defender Benoît Badiashile will be sidelined until December due to a muscular problem. Moisés Caicedo, Enzo Fernández, and Pedro Neto all skipped training prior to the Forest game, raising concerns about their fitness, but Reece James is back to playing.
Maresca’s annoyance is increased by the fact that he will not be in the technical area for the Forest game since he was disciplined and given a one-match touchline ban and £8,000 fine.
After seven games, Chelsea is presently five points behind leaders Arsenal in seventh place in the Premier League. If they want to keep up their pace in both local and European competition, they will need to rotate and adjust without Palmer, particularly in attack.