Chelsea thrashed West Ham 5-1 at the London Stadium on Friday night but Cole Palmer’s late withdrawal from the team’s starting XI was a concern for the rampant Blues
Enzo Maresca revealed Cole Palmer was struggling with a groin issue in the build-up to Chelsea‘s thumping win over West Ham after the former Manchester City star was pulled from the team just minutes before kick-off.
Sky Sports pointed out during coverage of Friday night’s match that the Blues’ influential attacking midfielder, 23, had left the team’s pre-match warm-up early. And after showing Palmer trudging off the pitch, he did not re-emerge for the start of the game.
Willian Estevao replaced Palmer in the starting XI with Sky Sports later confirming that Maresca had informed them that Palmer had «felt something» during the warm-up, with Chelsea opting to take no chances with the fitness of their star man.
Maresca was asked for an update after watching his team thrash West Ham 5-1 and said: «The last four, five days he was not a hundred per cent. And tonight during the warm-up, he felt again something, so we preferred not to start with him and take any risks. We will see [how he is] in the next hours.»
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In his post-match press conference with the written press Maresca confirmed that Palmer had been struggling with a groin issue but did not yet know the extent of any potential issue.
Marc Cucurella did start the game for Chelsea and admitted it was «difficult» to lose Palmer shortly before kick-off given the preparation work they had done prior to the match. Estevao, Palmer’s replacement, shone and grabbed an assist on his senior debut before being named man of the match. Speaking to Sky Sports, he said of Palmer’s absence: «It’s difficult because we practice one thing, at the end we need to change very fast but I think Estevao, in this case, played an amazing game.
«I think it’s very important because we have a good squad, all of us, we are ready at any time and we are very happy because we showed we have a good team.»
On Estevao, he added: «I think he’s young but he showed that he’s very mature. He made very good decisions and all the new players, all the new signings came here to help the team, to bring something good, good energy, good talent. I think we have an amazing squad, so I hope we can do good things this season.»
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