Lincoln City Vs Chelsea, EFL Cup Preview: Enzo Maresca Balances Injuries And Academy Promise

Enzo Maresca revealed that Cole Palmer will need to be assessed following his recent injury struggles, with Chelsea going "day by day" over the playmaker's fitness.

Palmer was taken off after just 21 minutes during the Blues’ 2-1 defeat to Manchester United on Saturday in what was just his second league start of the season.

It was Palmer's third appearance in the space of a week, however, with the 23-year-old coming on from the bench against Brentford on September 13 and then starting against Bayern Munich on September 17, scoring in both of those games.

The Blues will be looking to bounce back from their defeat against United when they travel to face League One team Lincoln City in the EFL CUP on Tuesday, and Maresca will take a cautious approach with Palmer.

“Cole is probably the only one that we need to assess a little bit,” said Maresca. “The rest are okay, just recovering from last week.

“He already made a huge effort [against United] to try and play the game. He tried Saturday morning, he was not 100%, but he wanted to be there to help his team-mates in that kind of game.

“It was painful [for him], so we decided to change. We await day by day to see how he is and then decide what we do.

“Cole is one, and then we have some players who have had problems for a long time like Moises Caicedo and Joao Pedro. They are trying to manage it a little bit themselves, but then the rest are okay.” 

Maresca also confirmed Chelsea would be without Benoit Badiashile and Romeo Lavia.

“[Benoit and Romeo] will not be back for this game, unfortunately,” he said.

“They both took part in the session yesterday, which is good news, and hopefully they can be available soon.”

Chelsea have progressed through 25 of their last 26 EFL Cup ties against lower-league opposition, including each of their last 17 since a penalty defeat to Burnley (then in the Championship) in the 2008-09 fourth round.

Lincoln, meanwhile, are aiming to reach the fourth round of the EFL Cup for the third time in their history, doing so previously in 1967-68 and 2022-23. That is the furthest the Imps have ever made it in the competition. 

Maresca warned his side must be careful to not lose concentration in the match, but revealed he will give minutes to academy players.

“You can sleep very easily in these kind of games,” Maresca said.

“Football is full of these games. I am very worried about that, but for sure, we will have some players from the academy, like we have always done.”