By The Independent (Sports) | Created at 2024-11-07 17:31:57 | Updated at 2024-11-15 09:24:41
1 week ago
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Cole Palmer is a doubt for Chelsea against Arsenal this weekend after the heavy challenge from Lisandro Martinez.
The England international was caught by the Argentine’s challenge in the 1-1 draw at Manchester United on Sunday.
Martinez was booked by referee Robert Jones but avoided a red card following a VAR check despite catching Palmer high.
While not an option to face Noah in the Conference League on Thursday, due to not being in the squad, Enzo Maresca is hopeful he can return to training and then feature against the Gunners on Sunday.
“He didn’t train yesterday,” Maresca said. “So we’ll see today if he’s able to train with us. We hope so, but we need to wait, we need to see, then we’ll decide.
“Yes [it’s a risk]. He didn't train the last few days, the tackle was not a normal one. Hopefully he can be back."
“He [Sancho] is recovering from that [illness], but he had a knock in the session, also, tomorrow for sure he’s out. But we’ll see if he’s available for Sunday, otherwise out until after the international break.”
And Maresca insists he will continue to rotate his squad between competitions due to his deep squad.
“We don’t make changes for the big game on Sunday, we make changes because we have 24, 25 players, all fit and good enough to play different competitions. Probably we’ll make changes tomorrow too.
“The ones playing in Premier League, doesn’t mean they won’t play in Conference, the season is so long, all of them will play Conference League, Premier League, or FA Cup, the next one.
“You can see from the outside, two teams, but we have one squad, all fit, unfortunately, we’ll try and use all of them.”
Maresca was angry after Sunday’s game at Old Trafford and maintained it was “quite clear” that the challenge warranted a red card.
“Cole was in the changing room with ice so we are waiting now. Hopefully it is nothing important,” the Chelsea manager said.
“I know I will be asked about the referee’s decision and I think it’s quite clear for almost all of us, but the referee is there to make the decision and he took a different decision.
“I told [the referee] at the end of the game that if you don’t go for the ball and you just go for the player it is a red. When there’s no intention to go for the ball and you go for the player’s legs, for me there’s no doubt for the decision. I think it’s quite clear that it was a red.”
