"We hope..." - Arsenal given major possible boost with injury update ahead of Chelsea clash | CaughtOffside

Mikel Arteta, Moises Caicedo, and Enzo Maresca (Photo by Marco Luzzani, Carl Recine/Getty Images)

Arsenal may have been handed a welcome boost with the news that Chelsea’s star player Cole Palmer is currently not fit ahead of their game in the Premier League this weekend.

Palmer has been a world class performer for the Blues in recent times and it would be a massive blow for Enzo Maresca to be without the England international for Sunday’s big game at Stamford Bridge.

Maresca is quoted as saying that Palmer hasn’t been training, admitting he could only hope to have the former Manchester City playmaker back for the visit of Arsenal this weekend.

See below for Maresca’s quotes, as posted by Fabrizio Romano on X…

“Cole Palmer was not able to train yesterday, he was not fit,” the Italian tactician said.

“We hope to have him back against Arsenal, we will assess him.”

Chelsea were also without Palmer for their trip to the Emirates Stadium towards the end of last season, when they were thrashed 5-0 by the Gunners.

They won’t want to go into such a big game without their star player again, even if they obviously have pretty decent squad depth and cover in the attacking areas.

Arsenal have injury worries of their own…

It’s not all positive news for Arsenal at the moment, though, as Declan Rice has not travelled with Mikel Arteta’s squad for tonight’s Champions League game away to Inter Milan.

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“Declan unfortunately picked an injury against Newcastle,” Arteta confirmed, as quoted by the Metro.

“He was able to finish and he wasn’t feeling good the last few days. We’ll have to assess him on Thursday and see if he’s ready for Chelsea.”

Still, if there’s no Palmer to deal with in that attacking midfield area, that could just about balance things out, as Arsenal would undoubtedly want Rice there to do a job on the 22-year-old.

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