Is Cole Palmer fit to face Leicester? Chelsea star back in training after missing international break
Today at 09:44 AM
Chelsea expect to have Cole Palmer fit for this weekend’s Premier League encounter against Leicester City.
This match will see a few familiar faces return to the King Power, including Enzo Maresca, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Wesley Fofana.
Foxes fans would have hoped that Palmer wouldn’t be making the trip, but after missing the international break, he should be fine.
Here, talkSPORT.com looks into the latest on Palmer’s fitness.
Is Cole Palmer available to face Leicester?
After training all week, Palmer is expected to be involved on Saturday.
The creative midfielder decided to pull out of the November international break as a precaution.
This followed on from him playing the full 90 minutes of the Blues’ 1-1 draw with Arsenal at Stamford Bridge.
Palmer had been a major doubt going into that match after he was on the receiving end of a brutal tackle from Lisandro Martinez the previous week.
It happened at the end of the draw at Old Trafford, so Palmer played on, but he didn’t train for the majority of the week building up to the Arsenal match.
As a result, he elected not to take part in Lee Carsley‘s final games as England’s interim manager, along with eight other players.
The Three Lions ended their Nations League campaign in style, beating Greece and thrashing the Republic of Ireland.
Palmer was one of many England stars who was indirectly criticised by captain Harry Kane.
The Three Lions’ record goalscorer suggested in an interview that playing for England was more important than anything club-related.
But for Chelsea, it’s good news because Palmer stayed in London and trained.
And Maresca confirmed ahead of facing Leicester that he only has one injured player, in Reece James.
He said: “We have just one injured player, that is Reece.”
He didn’t specifically name Palmer but suggested that many of the players that were struggling are now back.
He added: “The rest, some of them are better, some of them are still a doubt and we need to wait.
“Today is the first session we do with all the players [returning] from international. So we will see after today’s session.”
Given Palmer didn’t go on international duty and has trained all week, it appears he has a very good chance of featuring against Leicester.
The Blues have been very reliant on the former Manchester City star for goal contributions this year, so him being fit would be a big boost as the Blues look to close the gap on City and Liverpool.
Leicester vs Chelsea will be live on talkSPORT this weekend with kick-off schedule for 12:30pm on Saturday.
