Cole Palmer has revealed the extent of a lengthy groin problem that robbed him of the ability to shoot at one stage this season. A series of minor issues combined to make this the worst campaign of his career in terms of injuries, and for large periods he did not appear to be operating at full strength.<\/p>\n
With 10 goals and three assists in 26 games, Palmer is gradually finding form again. He looked assured in the 7\u20130 FA Cup quarterfinal win over Port Vale and afterwards underlined how difficult the injury battle has been. \u201cI feel good,\u201d he told club media after captaining the squad in the absence of the injured Reece James and suspended Enzo Fern\u00e1ndez . \u201cI feel like I\u2019ve turned a corner.<\/p>\n
\u201cPhysically, I feel good, now I can finally shoot again, I can do everything again. It\u2019s just about kicking on and performing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Palmer\u2019s stop-start season has mirrored wider difficulties at Chelsea. The Blues have frequently struggled to cope when key players are not fully available, and Palmer\u2019s limited output through injury contributed to an inconsistent campaign. Seeing him at full strength is therefore a relief for supporters as the club approaches a busy conclusion to the season.<\/p>\n
Chelsea\u2019s schedule now includes a trip to Wembley to face Leeds United in the FA Cup semifinals later this month, but the primary priority remains the fight for Champions League qualification. A poor run immediately before the international break left Liam Rosenior\u2019s team on the outside looking in, one point behind fifth-placed Liverpool and six adrift of the top four. England is expected to be awarded five Champions League spots this year.<\/p>\n
Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur are among the opponents Chelsea will face before the season ends. Rosenior needs his leading players to step up, and Palmer is named at the top of that list as the club pushes for a strong finish.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Palmer says groin injury left him unable to shoot; now fit, and available as Chelsea chase top four.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10935,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[190,172],"tags":[1254,1006,1047],"class_list":["post-10936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea","category-epl","tag-adductor-injury","tag-captaincy","tag-champions-league"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10936\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}