Maresca updates on Palmer and Sancho fitness ahead of Noah

Palmer isn’t registered for the Conference League group phase and Maresca confirmed at his pre-match press conference that the England international will be monitored ahead of Sunday’s visit of Arsenal, after picking up a knock against Manchester United last time out.

The England international didn’t train yesterday but Maresca is hopeful that he will be involved in today’s session, as we build up to the weekend.

Meanwhile, Sancho will also be absent from the Chelsea side to face Noah tomorrow night. The winger couldn’t feature against his parent club United last Sunday and Maresca confirmed that, like Cole, he is hoping a return can come against the Gunners later this week.

‘Cole didn’t train yesterday so we will see today if he can train with us,’ Maresca confirmed at his pre-match press conference.

‘We hope [he will be available for Sunday]. We need to wait and see and then decide.

‘Jadon is recovering from illness but he also had a knock in a session. Tomorrow he is out but we will see if he can be available for Sunday’s game, otherwise it will be after the international break for him.

‘That is it, the rest are all available apart from those players not involved in the Conference League squad.’

Despite the absence of the injured Sancho, plus the players who are not registered for the Conference League squad like Palmer, Wesley Fofana and Romeo Lavia, Maresca has an otherwise fully-fit squad to choose from, and the head coach confirmed that he will make changes for this game to manage the load of his players ahead of a busy period.

He did, however, clarify that he has reasons behind the sweeping changes we’ve seen from competition to competition and that each player in his squad deserves to play.

‘We don’t make changes just because of a big game on Sunday [Arsenal],’ Maresca explained.

‘Since the start of the season, we make changes because we have 24 or 25 players all fit and good enough to play in different competitions. This is why we are making changes and probably tomorrow we are making changes too.

‘Just because someone plays in the Premier League, that doesn’t mean they won’t play in the Conference League. And the same goes for those who have been playing in the Conference League, they will still play in the Premier League.

‘We have so many games in a long, hard season so for sure players will play across the Premier League, the Conference League, Carabao Cup and the FA Cup.

‘We try to use all of these players because we will need them over the season.’