Every word Enzo Maresca said on freak Cole Palmer injury, Chelsea star's return, Burnley clash

The full transcript from Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca as he has just completed his pre-match press conference ahead of the Blues' away clash with Burnley on Saturday afternoon

Enzo Maresca has just wrapped up his pre-match press conference ahead of Chelsea's trip to Burnley this weekend.

The Blues return from the international break with a visit to Turf Moor, hoping to climb up to second in the Premier League table with three points in Lancashire. Maresca conducted his pre-Clarets press conference on Friday morning, and Bobby Vincent was in Cobham to bring you every word from the head coach:

How is Cole Palmer?

He's not available for tomorrow for sure, Barcelona, for sure, Arsenal, for sure. Unfortunately he had an accident at home two days ago and he hit his toe. It's nothing important, but for sure he's not back next week.

He hit his toe at home?

Yeah.

Any more details?

I think it's enough.

So we're looking at what, a week and a half more?

We don't know. The only thing we know is that he's not available for this week, next week.

How frustrated is he given it's a huge week for Chelsea and given how long he's spent on the sidelines?

It can happen. I wake up many times during the night to go to the toilet. I hit my head, my legs, my everything, so it can happen.

Axel Disasi back in first-team picture?

Yeah, I said many times that Axel and Raheem [Sterling] are Chelsea players. Axel is helping the second team, he's helping the younger players. During the international break we had just five, six players here, so we need some second team players. And Axel was part of some session with second team players, but I think it was just one session with us.

So that's a, he's not actually part of your first team squad going forward?

At the moment he's helping second team, he's working with second team and he's there with second team.

So that's a no then?

He's a Chelsea player and he's with second team.

And in terms of Sterling, he's still not in the picture?

Raheem again, he's a Chelsea player and he's in the same situation.

Any truth in Filip Jorgensen wanting to leave?

I spoke with Filip at the beginning of the season and I didn't speak with Filip in the last days about that. I think all the players that they don't play a lot or they don't use to play, they would like to get more minutes, more games, it's completely normal. But I didn't speak with Filip.

Is Estevao Willian even colder now?

He's back from the international team where his coach was, he's very happy and we are very happy with him.

Malo Gusto is in great form. Is this the vision you always thought because he seems to be in a quite consistent form right now?

Absolutely, yes. We said many times that for us Malo is the main player in the way we want him to play. He can play in different positions. You already know that we like players that they can give us, we can be dynamic with them. Malo is one of them and we are very happy with Malo. Personally, since I joined the club, I consider Malo for us a main player.

Your midfield was excellent in terms of progressive passes vs Wolves. Hoping for more of the same vs Burnley?

Yeah, it will be a different game. We know that every game is different. Probably tomorrow we need to use different strategies, different weapons. No doubt that it's going to be a tough game, especially after the international break at 12 in the morning. It's always a tricky game and we need to pay attention.

And lastly, there's been noticeable progress in your counter-pressing. Your recovery time has actually decreased so when you lose the ball you get it back within seven seconds which is the highest it's been under you. What do you think has been key to that improvement?

Probably the time that we spent together. We said many times that with more time together we're going to be better and better. It's something that we have in the way we want to recover the ball as soon as possible. Sometimes it's possible, sometimes it's not possible because the other team do different things. But for sure it's something that we are getting better at and we can be even better.

In terms of Cole Palmer, you were speaking about his toe, but how is his groin injury and is that something you're still managing in terms of fitness or is he 100% better from the groin injury perspective?

He was very close. He was back with us almost with the groin and it's very good news. And then again, he had this small problem and hopefully it's nothing important.

Do you think that Palmer can still get himself back in Thomas Tuchel's England plans?

For me personally, Cole is one of our best players and no doubt that he can play in any international team, but then it's Thomas' decision.

Any other injuries?

Moi [Caicedo] came back last night, we haven't seen him yet, but we'll see Moi in a while. But it's good, Benoit [Badiashile] is back, he can be available for tomorrow, that's great news for us. And then Enzo [Fernandez] and Pedro [Neto], they used the international break to recover a little bit of energy, also to recover from the injury, the problems they had, and they are both available for tomorrow.

Is Cole wearing a protective boot or is he just putting his foot up?

The last time I saw him was yesterday morning, and he was without socks, without flip-flops, he was without nothing, I don't know how to explain it. I did see him in the changing room.

He wasn't limping around?

No not too much, he was working ok. The problem is that it's a small toe, so the contact with the boots can be painful.

Is the one bright side that you can think about, is that I know you've always said Chelsea are better with Cole obviously, but since Cole's been out, Chelsea have climbed to third in the table and done pretty well without him, so that means that you might think that you can...

Absolutely not. I don't think that [laughs]. I think that the teammates are better players with Cole playing. I feel much better when Cole is on the pitch, and we all want Cole on the pitch. At the same time, when Cole is not in the pitch, we need to find a solution. The team is doing fantastic, it's doing very well. Also, I think for any manager it's nice when you miss a player, but at the end the team still plays in the way we want to play. It's good, but again, we are better with Cole.