As Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca provides update

Cole Palmer has been dealing with a persistent groin injury this season and, while he is back available for Chelsea, the England star is still not fully fit and is battling pain, Felix Keith, reports for The Mirror.

Enzo Maresca has explained the extent of Cole Palmer’s persistent injury problems after he made his return for Chelsea vs Leeds. Palmer has been dogged by injuries this season, leaving him unable to build up any consistency.

The England play-maker has made just six appearances across all competitions this season and hasn’t managed to complete 90 minutes since September. He made his return from a groin injury in the 3-1 loss at Leeds on December 3 and played 58 minutes in the 0-0 draw with Bournemouth, but was left out of the travelling squad which lost 2-1 at Atalanta in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Maresca has revealed that Palmer is fit enough to be involved in Saturday’s home league game against Everton, but still can’t complete 90 minutes. “Yeah, he’s okay. He’s better,” he said in his pre-match press conference on Friday.

“He’s at the moment available. We have one more session this afternoon. Yesterday he finished the session with us with a mixed feeling, but overall he’s okay.”

But Maresca saying that Palmer’s pain was “completely bad” after playing around 30 minutes at Elland Road will worry Chelsea supporters, even if the Chelsea boss did rule out the possibility of surgery.

Asked if he will have to play through the pain for the rest of the season, Maresca said: “Hopefully not. But it’s something that is a little bit day by day.

“You can see he’s getting better, [then] some days it can be worse. For instance, after Leeds, he was completely bad, the day after. And he played [only] half an hour. After Bournemouth, he was OK. He played one hour. There’s not any sense [to it]. It’s day by day that decides how he feels.”

Palmer’s absence was extended by a freak toe injury sustained at home during his time on the sidelines. And his lack of game time will be a concern with the World Cup looming in the summer.

England boss Thomas Tuchel has made it clear he will only select players who are featuring regularly at club level. It means some big names could miss out on the 26-man squad for Canada, the United States and Mexico.

Palmer has only managed to play 65 minutes of a friendly against Andorra since Tuchel took over the job. He is also competing for a place in a position where Tuchel is well-stocked, with Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden, Morgan Rogers and Eberechi Eze among the No.10s at his disposal.

Maresca, meanwhile, is desperate for a win against Everton following a poor run of results for Chelsea, who have gone four games without taking three points since beating Barcelona on November 25.

“Yeah, it’s the next step for us,” Maresca said when asked about consistency. “I think during the season, the teams that are more consistent at the end, they are the teams that are going to be there.

“What do we need to avoid that? Probably with what happened last year, now again it’s just one week, it’s not a long time. But for sure when something happens, the next one you are more ready, more prepared, and you can avoid that.”