Chelsea have been hit with a fresh Cole Palmer setback after it was confirmed an “accident at home” will see the Blues’ talisman ruled out for at least the next three games.
Palmer has only just recovered from a troublesome groin injury that has limited him to all but 235 minutes across the Premier League and Champions League so far this season.
Chelsea face Burnley in the Premier League this weekend, followed by a Champions League meeting with Barcelona, and a London derby against Arsenal only a few days after that. Enzo Maresca has warned that Palmer won’t feature in any of them.
“He is probably not available for tomorrow [against Burnley] for sure, Barcelona for sure or Arsenal for sure,” Maresca told reporters. “Unfortunately, he had an accident at home where he hit his toe. It is nothing important, but he won’t be back in the next week.
“He was very close [to returning]. He was back with us almost with the groin, which is very good news, but he has this small problem. [His toe] is fractured.”
Palmer is believed to have stubbed the toe on his left foot against a door in his house.
The next game he could potentially play in is on Dec. 3, when Chelsea travel north to Elland Road to face Leeds United. But there are no guarantee as when Maresca was asked when Palmer might return, the Italian coach replied: “Don’t know.”
Chelsea Games Cole Palmer Has Already Missed This Season
The star attacker racked up 74 goals and assists in his first two years with Chelsea following what was, at the time, a slightly surprising £42.5 million ($55.5 million) move from Manchester City, and is obviously a big loss for a Blues side that might otherwise fancy their chances of challenging Arsenal for top spot.
Chelsea currently sit third in the Premier League table, six points behind the Gunners, while they are 12th in the Champions League standings halfway through the league phase.
Football’s Most Bizarre Off-Field Injuries
The majority of football injuries happen while actually playing football, either in games or training. Stubbing a toe on a door is a pretty mundane way to hurt yourself, but early 1990s Chelsea goalkeeper Dave Beasant managed to inflict surprising damage when a bottle of salad cream fell on his foot—he was supposedly trying to stop it from smashing on the floor after knocking it over.
Darren Barnard, another former Chelsea player, was once ruled out for five months during a spell with Barnsley after slipping on a puddle of his dog’s urine on the kitchen floor.
In the mid-1990s, young Liverpool goalkeeper Michael Stensgaard dislocated his shoulder picking up an ironing board, just one episode of a recurring problem that required surgery and eventually prevented him from ever having a career at the top level.
In a similar vein to Beasant, Valencia’s Santiago Cañizares missed his chance to start for Spain at a World Cup when an aftershave bottle severed tendons in his foot in 2002.
In 2017, Real Madrid talent Marco Asensio suffered an infected pimple from shaving his legs.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Cole Palmer Injury Absence Extended After Freak Accident at Home.
