Chelsea brace for Cole Palmer injury nightmare scenario following massive England announcement.

The latest Chelsea injury news comes after Cole Palmer played 90 minutes for England, but he should be able to rest for his club’s upcoming Premier League match against Liverpool.

Cole Palmer appeared for England for the first time in his brief senior international career, playing 90 minutes. Given the disastrous outcome, he may wish he had not done what he did.

Despite being named the country’s Men’s Player of the Year for 2024 only a few days before, Palmer’s week did not go as planned. Deployed in a deeper midfield role in Lee Carsley’s attack-minded starting XI, the Three Lions were humbled 2-1 by Greece at Wembley Stadium.

Palmer hasn’t had much experience with losing recently. Since March 12, he has only started four games for Chelsea, finishing second best. That comes from 31 matches in total.

For England, things have been slightly different. Gareth Southgate used him primarily as an impact player at Euro 2024, and he was part of the team that lost to Iceland before the tournament, but went on to assist in the semi-finals and score an equaliser against Spain four days later in the final.

He made his Carsley interim debut against Greece on Thursday. It wasn’t his best performance, despite working well alongside Declan Rice in a lopsided system that emphasized fluidity and creativity.

Palmer could (and should) have scored at least once, but he missed a golden opportunity in the first half. Pulling the strings from removed central areas isn’t anything new for Palmer. He has been doing it more under Enzo Maresca as Chelsea attempts to balance a plethora of forward options themselves.

Without a striker for much of the Greece match, as well as a lack of cohesion and a plan, Carsley’s adventure backfired. Back in Surrey, Maresca is likely to have let out a huge sigh of relief.

Although Palmer will have been frustrated and annoyed by his failure to win, the 22-year-old eventually emerged unscathed. With more emphasis than ever on player fitness and injury prevention, the international break is a club manager’s worst nightmare.

Chelsea is already managing Palmer’s workload after relying on him heavily last season. He went from playing very little senior football to being absolutely unstoppable. This culminated in an extended summer break following the Euros and a period of returning.

Maresca will now be hoping that the Carsley experiment ends and Palmer can be rested for Sunday’s away game against Finland. Even if he does play, which is more likely now that England has lost and needs to respond, there is plenty of time to recover.

Unlike some of the other international games, which last until the late hours of Wednesday, Palmer will be finished by Sunday night at the latest. This effectively gives him a free midweek to prepare and sharpen up for his trip to Liverpool.

Palmer’s chances of not playing, which would be ideal for Maresca and Chelsea, have been hampered by fellow right-sided attacker Bukayo Saka’s return to Arsenal following an injury. Saka will now return to north London to be assessed ahead of the weekend’s game against Bournemouth.

Chelsea will prefer Palmer to stay with England and be fit rather than return with a niggle. However, they would have preferred that he be wrapped in cotton.