Cole Palmer could move into a striker position as Enzo Maresca suffers with injuries in that position.
Nicolas Jackson and Marc Guiu are both recovering from injuries they sustained in their 2-1 Monday night victory over West Ham. The Senegalese player has an unserious hamstring issues, however, Guiu is likely to be on the sideline for a fair amount of time.
The timing of the injuries were very unfortunate. Occurring hours before the transfer deadline ended, the Blues had no time to search for a forward reinforcement. Now, Maresca may have to look at other players to make that move internally.
“We have players,” the Chelsea boss said. “Christo [Nkunku] has played already as a nine. I had Cole playing as a nine in the past [in Manchester City’s youth set-up].
“We can find some different solutions. At the moment, we didn’t decide anything because we are still waiting for Nico and from there, we will see different options.”
(Image: Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC)
The possibility of using Palmer as a striking option will certainly be a favourable choice with managers looking at their Fantasy Premier League teams.
If Palmer takes over at striker whilst Jackson returns to full fitness, he will still be registered as an FPL midfielder. Being in that midfield position adds one further point for every goal scored.
One issues that managers could face is the price of Palmer. Despite getting a reduction on February 7th of £0.1m, the Englishman still remains the third most expensive player at £11.2m.
Despite this, he is still the second most picked player behind Mohamed Salah. Palmer has a selection rate of 64.4%.
Another issue which is more football related is Chelsea’s recent form. Just over a month ago, the Blues were the top challenger to Liverpool for the Premier League title. Now, with only two wins in their last eight league games, their form is looking much less reliable.
That lack of trust in securing a victory is also clearly visible to FPL manager as Palmer was captained last week by only 0.2% of the player-base. Chelsea’s next league match is away at Brighton which is the exact same fixture that is being played tonight in the FA Cup.
