Chelsea injury news: Enzo Maresca provides Cole Palmer update ahead of Brentford Premier League fixture

Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca has suggested that Cole Palmer is likely to miss Saturday's Premier League fixture against Brentford.

Since withdrawing from the warm-up for the second game of the season against West Ham United, Palmer has been absent from the Blues' first-team squad.

Maresca has witnessed his side score seven times in victories over the Hammers and Fulham, a welcoming sight given that Chelsea have been overly-reliant on the playmaker in the past.

However, Maresca will want the England international back in his plans as soon as possible, particularly when fixtures versus Bayern Munich and Manchester United are to come next week.

© Imago

Maresca provides Palmer injury update

Speaking at a press conference on Friday morning, Maresca hinted that he would be erring on the side of caution with Palmer - as of Friday morning - yet to complete a full training session.

The Italian told reporters, as quoted by football.london: "Cole took part in the session yesterday for the first time, not the entire session.

"We have one more session this afternoon and we are going to try with him to see if he's okay, otherwise he will be out tomorrow."

He added: "He is recovering from an injury, it's not managing him, it's recovering from an injury. When he is available, we need to manage him because of the amount of games."

© Imago

Is Maresca likely to trust squad players?

With the likes of Moises Caicedo, Andrey Santos, Estevao Willian and Joao Pedro all still playing World Cup qualifiers as recently as the early hours of Wednesday morning, Maresca may have to call upon his squad depth.

Maresca could also have have reservations over using Reece James at right-back after he played twice for England in the space of three days.

Therefore, the likes of Alejandro Garnacho and Facundo Buonanotte may come into contention for their debuts having spent the past 10 days at Chelsea's Cobham facilities, along with Malo Gusto at right-back.

This may also be the right time for Marc Guiu to start down the centre of the attack ahead of Pedro on the back of his recall from Sunderland.