Chelsea’s squad returned to action on Monday after a weekend off following a comprehensive win over West Ham.
Enzo Maresca’s team put on a masterclass to blow the Hammers away, and restored a lot of optimism about the season after a false start against Crystal Palace on the opening day.
There was a lot to like in that 90 minutes, but there was bad news which arrived before kick off. Cole Palmer was named in the initial starting XI, but was replaced by Estevao Willian before the game started.
Palmer misses training as groin issue seems to persist
“Cole in the last four or five days was not 100%,” Enzo Maresca explained after the game.
“He tried the warm-up but he felt something. We preferred not to take any risks. We will see if it’s something important or not.”
The injury was played down a lot, and there were hopes his absence was fully “precautionary”
But Sky Sports have been at Cobham today, and noted that Palmer wasn’t training with the rest of the squad. Given it was a problem he apparently had for some time before Friday’s game that is still affecting him now, it’s fair to say it’s potentially troublesome.
You can see their report in the clip embedded here:
🗣️’Bad news for Chelsea fans on Cole Palmer. He’s not with the rest of the squad’
Gary Cotterill provides an update on Cole Palmer, with the 23-year-old not in training having missed Chelsea’s 5-1 win over West Ham following a groin injury in the warm-up. pic.twitter.com/BM0OZAhAXK
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) August 26, 2025
Palmer could be rested for 3 weeks if Fulham game is ruled out
We still have until Saturday to see Cole return to fitness, but many fans would now like to see him kept out of that game too. There is then a two week international break where Palmer can recuperate fully.
We showed we can be a potent attacking force even without him on Friday – let’s try again with the same setup. September sees the Champions League starting up and some tough games for us – with that in mind, we’d rather take no risks.
