Enzo Maresca maintains that Cole Palmer still does not need surgery on his lingering groin injury, but admits Chelsea’s medical staff are “not magicians”.
The Blues’ talisman is now expected to be out until December as the result of the problem picked up during a shortened pre-season following the Club World Cup that has seen him sidelined since last month.
Maresca admitted he “was wrong” when reminded that he had initially said that Palmer would be back fit after the October international break.
Instead, Palmer could miss nine to 10 more games and faces a race to be fit for the Premier League showdown with London rivals Arsenal on November 30.
He will also miss a third consecutive England camp in November, leaving the 23-year-old with only the March internationals to impress Three Lions boss Thomas Tuchel enough to land a place in his 26-man World Cup squad.
Injury has caused Palmer to feature only once during Tuchel’s reign so far, playing 65 minutes in the underwhelming 1-0 win against Andorra in Barcelona in June.
Asked whether it remains the case that Palmer will not need surgery on his persistent groin injury, Maresca said on Friday: “Yes, absolutely. We try just to protect Cole as much as we can and the most important thing is that.”
Maresca was then pushed on whether he is confident that the extra rest will heal Palmer’s problem.
“Unfortunately, the medical staff, they are not magicians,” he said. “They never know that you probably need six weeks.
“We hope that six weeks are enough, but it's a problem that we need to see step by step, week after week. But for sure he's going to be okay.
“He looks very good, to be honest. He looks relaxed. He's trying to recover from the injury. He's doing all the therapy that he needs to do, so he looks good.”
