Cole Palmer's camp drops Chelsea team news hint in four-word Leeds United message

Cole Palmer, who hasn't featured for Chelsea since September, looks set to make his return from injury against Leeds United

Cole Palmer's cousin, Nathan, has fired a warning to Leeds United ahead of this evening's clash. The Chelsea midfielder, who's recently returned from injury, could feature when Enzo Maresca's side take on the Whites at Elland Road on Wednesday night.

Palmer was raced back from the treatment room in September, only to aggravate his groin problem a week later. Shortly after recovering, he fractured his toe, extending his spell on the sidelines.

The 23-year-old midfielder had missed 13 games across all competitions before he was named in the matchday squad that faced Arsenal at the weekend. While Palmer hasn't played in a competitive fixture in over 10 weeks, his camp believes he's more than ready to return to action.

On Tuesday afternoon, Chelsea uploaded a video of the England international participating in a shooting drill. Palmer's personal trainer and cousin reposted the clip to his Instagram story with the caption: "Don't think they're ready [freezing face emoji."

Nathan has worked with the Blues star for a while now, uploading videos to social media to document his progress. Speaking to reporters at Cobham on Tuesday, Maresca provided an update on Palmer's condition.

The Italian suggested that he would've liked to have brought the midfield on against the Gunners. But, having gone down to 10-men, the decision was described as 'complicated'.

"He is available," said Maresca. "The last game he was on the bench for sure with the players was more complicated for Cole because now he needs to come back in terms of fitness condition."

The Chelsea boss added: "He is available, he can start the game. The idea of the game is to start giving minutes until he can play 90 minutes."

When asked what he expects from Leeds, Maresca said: "This is a good question. I don't know. Farke played more than 200 games with Norwich and he played just 16 or 17 games with a back five and he played always back four.

"With Leeds, he played all games with a back four and then second half against City, back five. They were 2-0 down, 2-2. So now, what do you think? They play so well in 3-5-2. That's why. That's why.

"So we try to prepare for both, and then when we see the line-up, we can organise. But it's the main doubt for me in this moment, if they're going to play one way or the other way. I don't know."

Then, on his impressive away form this season, having won four of Chelsea's six trips on the road, Maresca said: "It depends also a little bit on the teams that we face away at home. Now, I don't know.

"But for sure, I think there is no coincidence. For sure, there is something there. And probably, we need to analyse. The problem is that in this moment, it's very complicated to stop and analyse the game.

"Finish the Barcelona game, and the day after, two days after, I've been there, analysed the game, enjoyed that moment. But we were already thinking about Arsenal.

"Finish Arsenal, we are already thinking. But for sure, I don't think it's a coincidence. Probably, there is some reason why. And we need to try to analyse."