Chelsea star Cole Palmer has suffered a broken toe from stubbing it on a door on Wednesday night, ruling him out of key fixtures against Burnley, Barcelona and Arsenal.

The Blues have been without Palmer since he played 21 minutes of Chelsea‘s 2-1 defeat to Manchester United towards the end of September.

Palmer was due back in training this week after two months out with a groin injury but the England international has now had setback by picking up a separate injury.

Maresca said in his pre-match press conference on Friday:?“He was very close. He was back with us almost with the groin, which is very good news, but he has this small problem.”

When asked how long Palmer could be out for, Maresca replied:?“He is probably not available for Saturday for sure, Barcelona for sure or Arsenal for sure.

“Unfortunately, he had an accident at home where he hit his toe. It is nothing important, but he won’t be back in the next week.

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“I wake up many times during the night – I hit my head, my legs, my everything – so it can happen.”

On Chelsea coping without Palmer, Maresca added:?“I think that his team-mates are better players with Cole playing. I feel much better when Cole is on the pitch, and we all want Cole on the pitch.

“At the same time, when Cole is not on the pitch, we need to find a solution. The team is doing very well but we are better with Cole. He was almost back with us.”

When asked about other injury issues, Maresca continued: “Moi [Caicedo] came back last night, I will see him soon. He is good. Benoit [Badiashile] can be available for tomorrow. Enzo [Fernandez] and Pedro [Neto] used the break to recover their energy and their injuries. They are both available for tomorrow.”

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Chelsea defender Malo Gusto has been in good form for the Blues of late and produced a Player of the Match performance as France beat Azerbaijan 3-1 during the international break.

Maresca said of Gusto: “We said many times that Malo is a main player in the way we want to play. He can play in different positions. We like players that we can be dynamic with. Malo, personally, I consider him a main player for us.”

After facing Wolves in their last match before the international break, Maresca has explained why a match against Burnley will be different, the Chelsea boss insisted: “It will be a different game. Tomorrow, we need to use different strategy and weapons. It will be a tough game after the international break, 12:30, away, it’s always a difficult game.”