An injury expert - speaking exclusively to Sports Mole - has predicted when Chelsea star Cole Palmer could make his long-awaited return to action.
Enzo Maresca's side showed on Tuesday night that they can perform to the highest level without their key man as they swept aside Barcelona in the Champions League.
After being sidelined since September 20 with a lingering groin issue, Palmer had initially been pushing to feature in the squad for that mammoth tussle at Stamford Bridge.
However, it was revealed last week that the England international had suffered a fracture to the small toe on his left, a consequence of an accident at home.
While Palmer has already been seen training with his teammates at Chelsea's Cobham facilities, it remains up in the air whether the playmaker will be in a position to feature in the squad against Arsenal on Sunday.
Injury expert gives Palmer prediction
Ben Dinnery, the founder of website Premier Injuries, has exclusively told Sports Mole that he feels Palmer's toe injury may have to be managed if he is to make a quick return to action.
He said: "Just in terms of the actual bone and the fracture itself, you're talking around that sort of maybe six-week mark typically for that bone to maybe heal.
"So, it's something that we'll have to be sort of wary of, but like I say, I certainly wouldn't rule him out of the squad at this point. And if he was to miss out, you know, then we're looking at as early December as being more than realistic.
"Of course, the caveat would always be barring any kind of reaction and football being a contact sport in nature, you know, studs and feet and, you know, they all go hand in hand.
"So, you would hope that there aren't any, you know, any sort of major setbacks and contact issues on the training pitches that could affect that potential return to the squad."
Why Chelsea should not return Palmer return
With Chelsea trailing Arsenal by six points in the Premier League table, Maresca is facing the temptation of naming Palmer on the substitutes' bench on Sunday.
However, for the sake of what would surely be no more than a second-half appearance ahead of a further eight matches to come in December, the Italian would be well-advised to leave Palmer out of contention for a few more days at the very least.
None of Pedro Neto, Estevao Willian, Alejandro Garnacho or Jamie Gittens played 90 minutes against Barcelona, while Joao Pedro remained as an unused substitute.
Therefore, Chelsea are not short of creative options, and it would make far more sense to ease Palmer back into the fold over the following triple-header of Leeds United, Bournemouth and Atalanta BC, all of which take place away from Stamford Bridge.
Ben Dinnery was speaking to Sports Mole on behalf of Video Gamer