Cole Palmer injury: Enzo Maresca explains why fitness blow ‘could be good’ for Chelsea

Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca has confirmed that Cole Palmer is likely to withdraw from the England squad for upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Albania and Latvia.

Palmer was missing from Sunday’s Premier League defeat to Arsenal, but more worrying is Maresca describing the injury as a “muscular problem”.

“I don’t think so because his injury was from [Saturday’s] session,” Maresca replied when asked about Palmer’s chances of still reporting for international duty this week.

However, there is an underlying silver lining to the apparent cloud.

Palmer has been struggling for form and hasn’t scored a Premier League for two months, so a small injury – Maresca didn’t hint at anything particularly serious – could even offer some upside.

“We don’t wish for a player injury but in Cole’s case it gives him some rest, mentally and physically. So it could be good,” the Chelsea boss explained.

Nottingham Forest star Morgan Gibbs-White has already been added to the England squad, Thomas Tuchel’s first since being appointed permanent successor to Gareth Southgate, amid the expectation that Palmer will soon be formally withdrawing.

With Nicolas Jackson and Noni Madueke already sidelined, Chelsea have struggled to find a reliable source of goals while Palmer has been off his usual game. Remarkably, defenders have scored three of the club’s last five Premier League goals, with the Blues barely able to lay a glove on Arsenal.

The Gunners also struggled to create in what was a drab London derby, but Mikel Arteta’s side rediscovered the set-piece prowess and had stand-in emergency striker Mikel Merino to thank for scoring the only goal of the game with a header from a corner.