Sunderland 1-0 Newcastle United - Joe Buck match reaction
Newcastle United latest news: Chelsea have been delivered a blow ahead of their trip to St James’ Park on Saturday.
Palmer has had a plethora of injury issues this season and has most recently returned from a groin injury - although that issue is still having an impact on the former Manchester City man. Palmer did play at the weekend and scored in Chelsea’s win over Everton, but his manager has confirmed that he will be rested when they make the trip to face the League One leaders in Wales in the last-eight of the Carabao Cup.
On Palmer, Maresca said: “I already said many times in all the press conferences that the target for the ones that they need to be protected is the target. Cole in this moment is one of the players that he deserves to be protected, and in this moment he's not available to play two games in three days.”
Much like Newcastle United, whom Chelsea face at St James’ Park in the Premier League on Saturday, the Blues have played every midweek and weekend since September and Maresca, who can boast a squad depth that’s the envy of clubs across world football, has revealed he will rotate his starting XI from the side that beat Everton on Saturday: “We're going to make some changes,” he added.
“We'll see how many, but for sure we have players that in the last 12, 13 days, they've played five games. So they need to probably recover energy.”
Cole Palmer a doubt for Newcastle United clash?
Whilst Palmer will be rested on Tuesday night, his participation in Saturday’s Premier League clash at St James’ Park remains in doubt. As mentioned, a recurring groin injury has plagued him over recent weeks and it’s an injury which has baffled the Chelsea manager.
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“It's the groin,” Maresca said last week. "Hopefully not something to manage all season, but it's day by day. Some days he's better, some days worse.
“For instance, after Leeds he was completely bad the day after and played half an hour. After Bournemouth he was OK and played an hour. There's not any sense to it - it's how he feels day by day.”
Palmer played in all-but one of Chelsea’s 38 Premier League matches last season and netted against the Magpies at Stamford Bridge in October. However, he failed to notch a goal or an assist in the reverse fixture in the north east in May as the Magpies ran out 2-0 victors.
That result would prove crucial in ensuring that Eddie Howe’s side would qualify for the Champions League. Newcastle would lose their next two matches, against Arsenal and Everton, by a goal to nil and were reliant on Aston Villa losing to Manchester United at Old Trafford on the final day of the season to secure a fifth-placed finish.
Newcastle United also have a Carabao Cup quarter-final game to play this week when they host Fulham on Wednesday (8:15pm kick-off). Saturday’s league game with the Blues will kick-off at 12:30pm at St James’ Park and be broadcast live on TNT Sports.
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