Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca admits Cole Palmer had already been playing through injury before last-minute dropout from Blues' XI against West Ham

As the players prepared themselves at the London Stadium, Palmer experienced discomfort and was swiftly pulled from the XI. Sky Sports were quick to note Palmer's early departure from the pre-match warm-up, and it was subsequently confirmed that he would not feature in the starting team, with his place taken by eventual player of the match, Estevao.

Speaking after the 5-1 victory, the Maresca revealed: "Groin. Palace game, he was not 100% but he tried to make a big effort for the club, the fans and the team. He tried tonight, but it was not very good. The last four or five days, he was not a hundred per cent. And tonight during the warm-up, he felt again something, so we preferred not to start with him and take any risks. We will see [how he is] in the next hours."

Despite Palmer’s last-minute omission, Chelsea demonstrated their strength in his absence. There were five different goal-scorers, and it was a performance that showed the Blues are certainly not 'Cole Palmer FC'.

"You are there to say things, and people in general," Maresca snapped at the media. "The ones that say we are just 'Cole team'. Cole is our best player, we are a much, much better team. But we showed last season when Cole wasn't 100% and we achieved top four."

Chelsea's next match comes on August 30, when they host Fulham at Stamford Bridge. The club will be hoping that Palmer can recover in time to feature in that game. However, Maresca will not rush him into action, given that Chelsea have an international break following the west London derby, which will give them a two-week window to monitor Palmer’s recovery.