Chelsea are sweating on the fitness of Cole Palmer ahead of next weekend’s meeting with Arsenal after the winger picked up a thigh injury on England Under-21 duty.
Palmer’s Chelsea teammate Noni Madueke bagged himself a brace as Lee Carsley’s side thrashed Serbia 9-1 at the City Ground, with Liverpool’s Harvey Elliott and debutant Jaden Philogene also netting two each.
Liam Delap, Jonathan Rowe and a Luka Subotic own-goal completed the rout, and victory in Nottingham kept the Euro 2023 winners top of their qualifying group for Slovakia 2025.
But Palmer only lasted 52 minutes before being replaced with a thigh injury.
“There are a few bumps and bruises and we will monitor Cole, but we will not be taking any chances”, Carsley said about the £45million summer signing from Manchester City.
Palmer will now be assessed ahead of the match with Arsenal, and Mauricio Pochettino will hope it is nothing serious.
Chelsea are awaiting the full return of fellow England youth attacker Carney Chukwuemeka as well as £58million summer signing Christopher Nkunku, who may only be fit in the new year.
Meanwhile, Armando Broja had only just returned after ten months out with an ACL injury but this week left the Albania camp and returned to Cobham amid a fresh fitness issue.
