{"id":168696,"date":"2025-08-23T08:31:16","date_gmt":"2025-08-23T08:31:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/168696\/"},"modified":"2025-08-23T08:31:16","modified_gmt":"2025-08-23T08:31:16","slug":"not-very-good-chelsea-boss-enzo-maresca-provides-cole-palmer-injury-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/168696\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Not very good\u2019 – Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca provides Cole Palmer injury update"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Chelsea recorded their first Premier League win of the 2025-26 season on Friday night, dispatching London rivals West Ham United 5-1 in an impressive showing by the Blues.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Enzo Maresca\u2019s men are unbeaten in their first two Premier League<\/a> games this season, with the big win at the London Stadium following an opening day 0-0 draw with Crystal Palace.<\/p>\n

The Italian has plenty of options in attack after Chelsea signed Joao Pedro<\/a>, Jamie Gittens and Liam Delap in the summer \u2013 but a pre-match injury to Cole Palmer will have the Blues fans worried.<\/p>\n

The England international dropped out in the warm-up, meaning Brazilian sensation Estevao Willian started in his place for Chelsea<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"ColePhoto by Jose Breton\/Pics Action\/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesMaresca provides Palmer injury update<\/p>\n

Chelsea boss Maresca was asked about Palmer\u2019s injury in his post-match press conference, with the Stamford Bridge coach admitting the creative midfielder had been struggling with a groin complaint.<\/p>\n

\u201cPalace game, he was not 100% but he tried to make a big effort for the club, the fans and the team. He tried tonight but it was not very good,\u201d the Chelsea boss said, as per Football London<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cCole in the last four or five days was not 100%. He tried the warm-up but he felt something.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe preferred not to take any risks. We will see if it\u2019s something important or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chelsea fans will face a nervous wait to see the extent of Palmer\u2019s latest setback, with the England international a key player in the London club\u2019s quest for silverware this season.<\/p>\n

Delap and Pedro partnership a silver lining<\/p>\n

Estevao being given a chance to play will have excited the travelling Chelsea support, with the teenage South American providing an assist and looking lively in the convincing win.<\/p>\n

However, Maresca\u2019s decision to partner Pedro and Delap in attack will be the main positive from the Blues\u2019 victory.<\/p>\n

\"LiamPhoto by Vince Mignott\/MB Media\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Pedro started in the number nine role for Chelsea in the draw with Palace, but looked more comfortable in a supporting capacity against West Ham as Delap led the line.<\/p>\n

The former Brighton man\u2019s versatility will be a real boost for Maresca this season, with Pedro able to play across the forward line.<\/p>\n

It certainly would have been interesting to see how Chelsea accommodated Delap, Pedro and Palmer all in the same starting XI.<\/p>\n

However, while Palmer fights to get back to fitness, the partnership between Pedro and Delap will be asked to carry the goalscoring burden \u2013 something they seem well equipped to do.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chelsea recorded their first Premier League win of the 2025-26 season on Friday night, dispatching London rivals West…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":168697,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[461,3241,6649,221,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-168696","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-chelsea","9":"tag-cole-palmer","10":"tag-english-premier-league","11":"tag-soccer","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115077151694381134","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168696\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}