Palmer to miss 3 Chelsea games, but Maresca sees injury setback as opportunity

Cole Palmer will sit out Chelsea's next three games, but Enzo Maresca believes it will be beneficial for the Blues to become accustomed to playing without him.

Palmer has been battling a groin injury in recent weeks, and he was withdrawn in the early stages of Saturday's 2-1 defeat to Manchester United after aggravating the issue.

While it is not thought that the England international will require surgery, Chelsea will not select him for their next two Premier League games – at home to Brighton on Saturday and Liverpool next week – or their matchday two trip to Ajax in the Champions League.  

"We decided to protect Cole a little bit in terms of not making the injury worse," head coach Maresca told reporters on Friday.

"We have decided to rest him for the next two, three weeks, probably until after the next international break, just to see if he can recover 100% and be completely fit.

"I don't think he needs surgery; it is just about managing the pain in his groin. 

"With the amount of games it is something that can happen, it is the reason why we are trying to be a little more conservative with him."

Since Palmer joined Chelsea in September 2023, he has appeared in 101 games across all competitions, with the Blues winning 54 of those (53.5%).

The win rate stands at 82.4% (14 victories in 17 matches) without Palmer, though that figure is inflated by his absence from the early stages of their Conference League campaign last season.

But even in the Premier League alone, Chelsea still have a better win rate without Palmer (60%, 3/5) than with him (49.3%, 36/73).

Maresca feels this is a good opportunity for the Club World Cup champions to show their strength in depth, saying: "With Cole we are a better team. 

"But we also said we need to play games without him. We are going to find a solution. We are not going to play with 10 players for sure! We will find a different solution."