Why Cole Palmer has missed Chelsea training and is not going to play against Atalanta | Football

Cole Palmer made his return to Chelsea’s starting line-up on Saturday, but is not going to be in Champions League motion this week.

The England star had not began for the Blues since September 20 as he was given time to recuperate from an ongoing groin issue.

There have been fears that the 23-year-old would want surgery to repair the injury however the club selected to rest him as a substitute and he spent over two months out of motion.

Palmer returned off the substitutes’ bench in defeat at Leeds United last week and was back within the starting XI within the stalemate against the Cherries.

Nonetheless, he sat out training on Monday ahead of Chelsea’s trip to Italy to face Atalanta on Tuesday night and is not going to be within the squad for the match.

As an alternative the Blues are being careful with their star performer, leaving him out entirely and saving him to face Everton at Stamford Bridge within the Premier League on Saturday.

Not only was Palmer kept out for several weeks as a result of his groin problem, but additionally due to fracturing his toe in an accident at home, so he’s being managed back to full fitness on each fronts.

Enzo Maresca’s side has made a superb begin to the Champions League group stage, sitting seventh within the table after five games.

Nonetheless, they may still be tested with the intention to secure a top eight spot, with one other trip to Italy of their last group game to face Serie A champions Napoli.

A house game in between their Italian jobs sees them host Pafos, who’ve performed admirably to this point, losing only once in five outings.

Maresca will hope to have Palmer available for as much of the busy festive schedule as possible, with 4 Premier League matches still to play this month and a Carabao Cup quarter-final against Cardiff City.

The Italian’s options going forward were reduced as a result of a shoulder injury suffered by Liam Delap against Bournemouth.

How long the English forward goes to be out for is yet to be confirmed, but Maresca said it ‘looks bad’ for the summer signing after the sport.

The Club World Cup winners are hardly in need of attacking talent, though, with Alejandro Garnacho and Pedro Neto also starting the sport against the Cherries.

Estevao, Joao Pedro and Marc Guiu all got here on as substitutes, while Jamie Gittens remained on the bench.

Despite these various threats, Maresca was left frustrated by what they delivered against Bournemouth, saying after the draw: ‘I feel it was a game where we lacked, we missed a little bit little bit of quality within the last third.

‘For me, many mistakes. We missed some passes within the last third, some moments that we could shoot and avoid that, cross. But yeah, overall, if you find yourself not in a position to win, we said again and again that it’s necessary that we don’t lose.’

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