Palmer still has chance to recover for Arsenal

COLE PALMER is already training outside and on the grass, despite breaking his little toe less than a week ago. Although boss Enzo Maresca said he would be surprised if Palmer were able to play against Premier League leaders Arsenal on Sunday, Chelsea’s head coach did not rule it out. Palmer is set to miss tonight’s Champions League clash with Barcelona. The 23-year-old is wearing a specially modified left boot to aid his recovery after stubbing his toe on a door at home and that is allowing him to train, with a view to joining team sessions soon. Maresca said: ‘He’s already on the pitch, he’s already touching the ball, so it’s good. We are here for the Champions League game and then after that we start to think about Arsenal. ‘The last time I spoke to Cole was Sunday after the session, to ask how he was feeling. It was a good feeling, but I didn’t ask him details about the injury at all.’ Ahead of a seismic week for Chelsea, in which they will face

two formidable opponents, Maresca said: ‘It’s a big week, but then we have Leeds away, Bournemouth away and Atalanta away, so it’s another big one. It’s always a big week.’ Asked if he would like to manage in Spain one day, perhaps at Barcelona, Maresca replied: ‘Even when you ask me what’s happening in three, four months, I say, “I don’t know”. In this moment, I’m very happy to be at this huge club and this is the most important thing.’ Maresca also revealed that Pep Guardiola’s legendary Barca side helped convince him to go into coaching. He added: ‘Any team can decide the way they want to play. I chose mine years ago and this will be the way I like to watch my team playing football in the future.

‘No one can be compared to that Barcelona, to Pep, because they changed football in Spain, where every club was trying to play in that way.

‘Then Pep moved to Germany and everyone was trying to play that way in Germany. Pep came to England and many clubs tried to do something similar.’