It was difficult to look too far beyond the headline item from Enzo Maresca on Friday morning – largely because it was to do with Cole Palmer and how the playmaker will miss Chelsea’s next three matches. The club’s medics and Palmer himself (reluctantly, you suspect) have decided that rest is the only cure for the groin issue that has held him back at various points this season.
Palmer will sit it out against Brighton on Saturday, Benfica and José Mourinho on Tuesday and Liverpool next Saturday; all of the matches are at Stamford Bridge. It will then be taken as read that Palmer will not be able to join up with England for the friendly with Wales at Wembley and the World Cup qualifier against Latvia in Riga.
