Chelsea: Enzo Maresca has revealed that Cole Palmer’s eagerly awaited return to the Chelsea line-up following his recovery from a groin injury will be delayed because the midfielder has hurt his toe in some unspecified accident at home. The Chelsea head coach says he doesn’t know whether or not the little piggy in question is broken.
“I wake up many times in the night to go to the toilet,” he says. “I hit my head and leg and everything. It can happen. He was very close. He was back with us almost with the groin, which is very good news, but he has this small problem. We don’t know it’s fractured. The only thing we know he is not available for this week and next week.”
Palmer will miss tomorrow’s match against Burnley, Chelsea’s midweek Champions League match against Barcelona and next weekend’s visit of Arsenal to Stamford Bridge.
Burnley: Scott Parker says forward Armando Broja “maybe dodged a bullet” with an ankle injury he suffered against England appearing to be less serious than first feared. Broja could yet face former club Chelsea on Saturday having trained since Wednesday but that certainly had not looked like being the case when he left Albania’s World Cup qualifier against England on a stretcher on Sunday.
