Liam Rosenior has provided an update on Cole Palmer ahead of Chelsea's clash against Crystal Palace. The 23-year-old midfielder, whose season has been plagued by injuries, missed the Blues' win over Pafos in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday night due to a 'little bit of tightness in his thigh'.
Speaking to reporters at Cobham on Friday afternoon, Rosenior began by providing an update on those who recently fell ill. The Chelsea boss said: "In terms of sickness, the players are coming back gradually to full health.
"We've had to be very careful with that. Estevao [Willian] was very ill, Jamie Gittens was very ill, so that altered our plans over the week in terms of what we wanted to do, but thankfully the lads have come through that as well."
Then, on Palmer, Rosenior said: "Cole [Palmer] is in a good place during training today, which is really positive and we'll assess his reaction to training."
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On Filip Jorgensen, who picked up a knock in the win over Pafos on Wednesday night, Rosenior said: "Jorgensen had his scan, which is actually quite positive and not as bad as we first feared. He won't be available for Palace but could be potentially for Napoli. Other than that, all is good."
Palmer suffered a groin injury at the start of the season, only to be rushed back from the treatment room and aggravate the problem a week later. The England international was out of action for almost two months after breaking his toe towards the end of his rehabilitation.
Between Enzo Maresca, who stepped down on New Year's Day, and Liam Rosenior, the former Manchester City star has been carefully reintegrated into the side. On whether Palmer is 100 per cent fit, the Blues boss said: "That's my job. That's my job now.
"I want to look after the players, not to be nice to them. I want them to perform at their very peak level. So I think, not just in terms of Cole, there's a number of players in our group that we have to look after in a different way and not just force them out not to perform.
"I've got trust in the group. I've rotated with the squad, and I'll continue to do that because I want us to be involved at the end of the season in big games and big competitions.
"At the moment, we're in January. I want to make sure the players come through this period with wins, but in full health, and Cole's one of those players."
On whether Palmer is happy at Stamford Bridge, Rosenior added: "I've had numerous conversations with Cole and he seems very, very happy to be here. He is very, very happy to be here. He's a huge part of our plans in the long term.
"He's an outstanding player. Every player goes through difficult moments in their careers in terms of injury. I don't think it's any reflection on his qualities. He's an outstanding footballer.
"But my job and the club's job is to get him in a place where he can consistently perform at the level that he wants to. And there was frustration in the Brentford game, not because he wasn't happy here, just because he couldn't perform. He was in pain.
"He couldn't perform to the level he wanted to do for the club. He's a great kid and he's an outstanding player, but we have to make sure that we look after him in the right way. That's why I didn't involve him in the last game."
Rosenior also provided an update on Romeo Lavia and Dario Essugo. The former hasn't featured for Chelsea since the start of November when he was forced to come off inside the opening 10 minutes of a 2-2 draw to Qarabag.
Meanwhile, the latter, whom the Blues signed from Sporting CP in the summer for £18m, is yet to even make his debut for the Blues. Rosenior said: "Unfortunately, Dario picked up a really unfortunate injury.
"He slipped in training and will be out for over a month. Romeo is on the way back which is great. He's a very, very good player at a very high level.
"We have Enzo [Fernandez], Moi [Caicedo], Andrey Santos and Reece James - it's not bad. I don't want to bring in players that don't enhance the group or the chemistry we're building."
When pressed on Lavia, Rosenior said: "I want him back as quickly as possible but I want that with no more injuries. I don't want to force him. I want Lavia to come back to a place where we know where he can get game time and regular games."
