Cole Palmer injury update and crucial decisions Chelsea face on 'longer' road to return

Cole Palmer has been nursing a groin injury and he's only featured four times for Chelsea this season in a hugely disrupted campaign for the England international

Injury analyst Ben Dinnery has provided an update on Cole Palmer, who has been nursing a groin injury for much of the season. The Chelsea midfielder was raced back from the treatment room in September, only to aggravate the problem a week later.

Palmer first suffered the groin injury in the warm-up for Chelsea's clash against West Ham at the London Stadium. The 23-year-old pulled out of the starting lineup as a precaution, with Estevao Willian taking his place.

He missed the Blues' win over Fulham in the Premier League, as well as a victory against Benfica in the UEFA Champions League. Palmer appeared to have overcome the issue when he hit the ground running in a cameo appearance off the bench at the G-Tech Community Stadium.

But the England international was forced to come off inside during the first half of Chelsea's visit to Old Trafford a week later. Palmer has been on the sidelines ever since, missing seven games across all competitions.

Speaking exclusively to football.london, via Escapist Magazine, Dinnery provided an update on the Englishman's situation. The injury expert explained how Palmer's meteoric rise to superstardom could be catching up with him.

Dinnery said: "Inherently, we’re talking about a player who arrived from Manchester City and really burst onto the scene in his breakthrough year, on the back of an under-21s England tournament. He had a great season for Chelsea, then went away with the full England international squad.

"He’s a player who has had barely any rest in over two years. It’s that accumulation of fatigue and we forget that he’s still a young player. That transition from probably under-23s, to under-21s football to then playing that football for City, all of a sudden becoming the main man for Chelsea.

"That’s a heavy weight to bear," added the injury analyst. "Reasons behind how he’s being managed at the moment, which is down that conservative route, just suggests that it’s more indicative of being load management.

"Just easing back, which, given the very nature of football, those changes, we do see high rates of groin and pelvic problems and injuries. Sometimes that easing of load can help those problems massively.

"Which is why we’ve seen that timeline for Cole Palmer fluctuate. We expected him back a little bit sooner, but it’s going to be another month. It’s one of those ones that will be assessed on a day-to-day basis.

"We seem to be fixed on this if you have a timeframe of an injury, how long will it take? Now, what they will do, to hopefully integrate players successfully back into first-team football, they will look at activity-based programmes.

"You’ll have maybe a five or six stage process, and you need to complete each stage of the process without any kind of setback, reaction or re-injury."

On Palmer's return date, Dinnery said: "It’s sometimes not until the last stage, particularly if you’re talking around a loading issue, where you could be fine for three, four or five days, and then all of a sudden, you just feel a little bit of intensity as you increase that intensity and increase that load.

"Ultimately, there’s nothing fixed in terms of timeframe. I think we’re looking at post-international break. We’re coming up to a busy period in and around Christmas, and it’s one of those ones where you could see Cole Palmer managed in terms of his minutes.

"Again, the factors around that could be how Chelsea are performing, and probably until last weekend, you would have said they’re doing alright until that home defeat to Sunderland.

"They’ll have an idea and understanding that when Cole Palmer does return, they want him fit and available not just for two, three, four or five games, but for the festive period to January and beyond through the remainder of the season."

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