Chelsea star Cole Palmer faces a late fitness test for the Premier League clash against Brentford this weekend.
Palmer has missed Chelsea’s last two games after withdrawing from the starting XI against West Ham just before kick-off after suffering a groin injury in the warm-up.
Furthermore, the attacking midfielder was not named in Thomas Tuchel’s latest England squad for the World Cup qualification double-header against Andorra and Serbia.
The good news is that Palmer has returned to partial training ahead of Saturday night’s game against Brentford, but Enzo Maresca has confirmed an immediate return to action is not a guarantee.
Speaking in the pre-match press conference on Friday morning, the Chelsea head coach said: "Cole took part in the session yesterday for the first time. Not the entire session.
“Today in the afternoon we have one more session. We are going to try with him. If we think he feels good, it’s okay. Otherwise he will be out tomorrow.
“It is just recovery from the injury. We probably need to manage him a little bit.”
One player who will certainly miss the west London derby is summer signing Liam Delap after he suffered a hamstring injury in the 2-0 win over Fulham before the international break.
Initially, Maresca said afterwards that it was the sort of injury that usually meant six to eight weeks on the sidelines, but the Italian now expects to be without the striker for up to three months.
He added: "Liam is, I think, around ten to 12 weeks [out]."
