Cole Palmer return from injury delayed by freak accident with Chelsea forward set to miss Barcelona and Arsenal games

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Chelsea forward Cole Palmer fractured his toe in a freak accident at home, delaying his long-awaited return from a groin injury by two weeks. The 23-year-old was expected to make his comeback for next week's games against Barcelona and Arsenal, but stubbed his toe at his home on Wednesday night. Blues boss Enzo Maresca said: "It’s nothing important, but for sure, he’s not back next week."

'It can happen' - Maresca reveals Palmer is injured again after fracturing toe in freak accident

Video credit: SNTV

Cole Palmer’s return from injury has been delayed by two weeks after he fractured his toe in a freak accident at home.

Having been sidelined for two months with a groin injury, Chelsea were hoping the 23-year-old would make his comeback in Tuesday’s UEFA Champions League game against Barcelona or next weekend’s clash with Arsenal.

However, the England international stubbed the small toe on his left foot on a door in his home on Wednesday night and will now miss those crucial ties.

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Speaking ahead of Chelsea's Premier League clash at Burnley on Saturday, which is live on TNT Sports and discovery+, Blues boss Enzo Maresca, sympathising with the nature of the injury, confirmed Palmer would not feature next week.

"Unfortunately, he had an accident at home two days ago and he hit his toe," Maresca said. "It’s nothing important, but for sure, he’s not back next week.

"The only thing we know is that he’s not available for this week, next week. He’s not available for tomorrow for sure, Barcelona for sure, Arsenal for sure."

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Video credit: SNTV

He added: "It can happen. I wake up many times during the night to go to the toilet. I hit my head, my legs, my everything, so it can happen.

"He was very close [to a return]. He was almost back after the groin [issue] and that’s very good news. And then again, he had this small problem and hopefully it’s nothing important."

Maresca played down the severity of the issue, confirming his forward was not wearing a protective boot for the injury.

The Italian said: "The last time I saw him was yesterday morning, and he was without socks, without flip-flops, he was without [anything]. He was walking okay.

"The problem is that it’s a small toe, so the contact with boots can be painful."

Palmer last featured for Chelsea during their 2-1 defeat away at Manchester United in September.

He has since missed 11 matches for The Blues, including six Premier League fixtures.

But Maresca’s men have coped relatively well with the absence of their talismanic forward, winning eight of those 11 games.

Coming into this weekend’s round of fixtures, they are sat third in the Premier League, just four points adrift of leaders Arsenal.

How to watch Burnley v Chelsea?

Burnley v Chelsea will be live on TNT Sports 1, TNT Sports Ultimate and discovery+.

TNT Sports is available across all major TV platforms, offering a line-up of up to four TV channels (TNT Sports 1, TNT Sports 2, TNT Sports 3, TNT Sports 4), and up to six digital or red-button channels (TNT Sports 5 to 10), and TNT Sports Ultimate plus TNT Sports Box Office HD.

You can subscribe to TNT Sports through discovery+, BT, EE, Sky, and Virgin Media.

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