Chelsea star Cole Palmer has been absent from training ahead of tomorrow night’s Premier League clash with Arsenal.
Palmer, 21, has been Mauricio Pochettino’s best player this season after joining from Manchester City in the summer. The forward has scored 23 goals and assisted another 13 for the Blues.
He has scored 10 goals in his last five Premier League games – including four in last week’s 6-0 win over Everton – but was unable to help Chelsea beat Man City in the FA Cup semi-final on Saturday.
The England international had appeared to be limping with some strapping around his thigh at Wembley but he did play the entirety of the game. However, he missed training on Sunday and Monday, football.london understands.
In the club’s weekly injury update published prior to Pochettino’s press conference, Palmer was added to the list of absentees and is said to be ‘absent due to illness’. Should he fail to recover in time, it will be the first league game he has missed since the 2-1 home win over Crystal Palace at Christmas.
Despite not training in the build-up to the game, Pochettino has claimed the club will assess him tomorrow. “Today, no [he cannot play],” he said.
“We will see tomorrow morning. Today, I don’t believe he can be involved. Even if he is good tomorrow, maybe he is not in a condition to play. We hope he can recover from this situation and be involved with the team.
The injury problems continue to mount for Pochettino with Ben Chilwell and Malo Gusto also named on the injury list. Both defenders played against City at the weekend but are now ‘undergoing medical assessment’ ahead of the visit to the Emirates Stadium.
In better news, midfielder Lesley Ugochukwu has joined Christopher Nkunku and Robert Sanchez in ‘partial team training’. The young Frenchman hasn’t featured since the Christmas Eve defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers.
