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Chelsea supporters will be sweating on the fitness of Cole Palmer ahead of the Blues' Premier League clash with Brentford next weekend.
The 23-year-old has missed the last two matches with a groin problem. In the lead up to the victory over West Ham United last month, Palmer had felt a bit of an issue in training but he was still selected from the start at the London Stadium.
However, during the warm-up, Palmer limped off having felt pain in his groin, with Estevao Willian replacing the England international at the last minute. Chelsea, ultimately, didn't need Palmer on the night as they ran riot in east London where they scored five goals to secure the three points.
The following week, Palmer was at Chelsea's training base in Cobham but the former Manchester City man was doing some work inside individually while his teammates were out on the grass. So it came as no surprise that he missed last weekend's 2-0 victory over Fulham.
There is room for optimism now, though, with Palmer taking to his Instagram page on Thursday evening to post a simple two-word message. "Back soon," wrote Palmer, alongside a photo of himself at Stamford Bridge, which has got Chelsea supporters excited.
Enzo Maresca will be cautious with Palmer, though, and will be reluctant to throw him straight back in if he is not 100% fit for the visit to Brentford after the ongoing international break. Palmer was in the top five in terms of minutes played throughout last season - which ran all the way to mid-July due to the Blues' participation in the FIFA Club World Cup - for Chelsea.
Palmer finished the campaign with over 4200 minutes played, while Moises Caicedo played just over his teammate's total and Levi Colwill just short of 4000. All three of them have picked up injuries at the beginning of this new season, albeit Colwill's is a lot more serious than his two colleagues.
Colwill will miss the majority of the campaign after having surgery on an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury he suffered in pre-season training. Meanwhile, Caicedo has been carrying a muscular knock and was absent for Ecuador's World Cup qualifier against Paraguay on Friday.
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"This is where we are this season. I don't think it's random that our three players with the most minutes last season - Levi, Cole and Moi - Levi is injured, Cole has a problem and today has been Moi's first session since West Ham," Maresca said last week ahead of the win against Fulham. "It's not random. It's probably to do with the amount of minutes last season. It is what it is. We are going to have problems this season, for sure, because of last season. It's about how we adapt and recover."
So it seems unlikely that Maresca will throw Palmer in from the start at Brentford unless the Chelsea head coach gets the go-ahead from the club's medical staff beforehand. Especially now the Blues have signed a back-up option for Palmer in the form of Facundo Buonanotte.
Chelsea confirmed the signing of the 20-year-old on deadline day, with the Blues taking him on a season-long loan deal and paying Brighton a fee of £2million for his services, football.london understands. Buonanotte, rather surprisingly, was left out of Chelsea's Champions League squad for the league phase of the competition but he is eligible to play against Brentford next weekend.
Buonanotte, however, will not have had much time at all to train with his new teammates by the time next Saturday comes around, so it would be a bit of a surprise if he was named in the starting line-up. Joao Pedro has been Palmer's replacement in the No.10 role but Maresca may be tempted to push the Brazilian into the central striker position given Liam Delap is not available due to injury.
Delap is set for several weeks out of action after he pulled up with a hamstring problem early into Chelsea's win over Fulham. There is the option to push Enzo Fernandez forward and bring one of Andrey Santos or Dario Essugo in alongside Caicedo. Or, even, put Santos in the No.10.
Maresca has options after a busy summer transfer window. He will be desperate for Palmer to be fit and ready to go at the Gtech Community Stadium, but if that is not the case, then it is not the end of the world.
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