Cole Palmer injury latest as Chelsea face anxious Arsenal wait after Man Utd controversy

Chelsea and Enzo Maresca are facing an anxious wait after a Lisandro Martinez challenge on Cole Palmer left the 22-year-old hurt late on in the Blues' draw with Manchester United.

Martinez scraped Palmer's left knee with his studs in stoppage time of Sunday evening's match at Old Trafford. The Video Assistant Referee (VAR) checked for a possible red card but then decided to stay with referee Rob Jones' initial decision of a yellow - leaving Maresca furious on the touchline.

The Chelsea head coach approached the referee at full-time as he now faces a wait to see if Palmer is okay. When asked about his star attacker post-match, Maresca said: "He was there in the changing room with ice. We are waiting now.

"Hopefully it is nothing important and then I know you are going to ask me about the referee's decision. They showed me before the press conference, I think it is quite clear almost for all of us but the referees there did not take the decision and they made a different decision."

When asked if Jones, the referee, gave him any reason why Martinez was not shown a straight red card, the Italian said: "No. He did not say nothing. I just said to him when there is no intention to go for the ball and to go for the player, the legs, there is no doubt about the decision."

Palmer and his Chelsea teammates will be given the day off today (Monday) as they recover from another gruelling match in the Premier League. The Blues will be hoping Palmer can return to training on Tuesday but either way, he will have a few days off now given he is not in the UEFA Conference League squad.

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Chelsea face Armenian side Noah on Thursday evening at Stamford Bridge in match day three of their league phase campaign. Palmer was not selected for the European competition by his head coach, with Maresca looking to protect the man with seven goals and five assists in just 10 Premier League appearances this season.

Palmer will be hoping to be fit and available on Sunday afternoon as Chelsea welcome Arsenal to Stamford Bridge in the Premier League. The Gunners are a bit out of sorts at the moment and have not won in the top-flight in what will be over a month by the time the weekend comes around.

Maresca is set to make wholesale changes to his team on Thursday against Noah before Chelsea take on Arsenal. The Blues head coach will be hoping such mass changes will work better than it did last week with the west Londoners being defeated in Newcastle in the Carabao Cup after Maresca made 11 alterations to his team.

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