Cole Palmer was taken off early in the first half of Chelsea&#8217;s defeat at Manchester United on Saturday &#8211; but what&#8217;s the latest on him and is he a sell in FPL?
We take a look at manager Enzo Maresca&#8217;s latest comments and discuss how FPL managers should react to the news.
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<ul>
<li data-start="189" data-end="348">Palmer is struggling with a groin issue and was subbed off at the weekend in the first half</li>
<li data-start="189" data-end="348">Ongoing doubts over his minutes make him a viable sell in FPL</li>
<li data-start="189" data-end="348">Moving away from him could help fund popular transfer target Erling Haaland</li>
</ul>
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<h2>Palmer: What happened and what&#8217;s the latest?</h2>
Palmer was replaced 20 minutes into the United game &#8211; but it was not immediately obvious if he was injured.
Robert Sanchez had been sent off in the fifth minute and Palmer was one of three first-half substitutes.
It became clear after the game that his withdrawal was not tactical.
Maresca confirmed his star man was &#8216;not 100% fit&#8217;, with a groin issue the diagnosis.
This is what caused him to miss Gameweek 2 and 3 and a recurrence is not ideal news for his owners in FPL.
Speaking ahead of the Blues&#8217; midweek Carabao Cup tie against Lincoln, Maresca said:
<blockquote>&#8220;Yeah, Cole probably is the only one that we need to assess a little bit. The rest, they are okay. We are just recovering from last week when we played three games in a row.
&#8220;He did already a huge effort on last Saturday to try to play the game. Again, he tried Saturday morning, he did the test, he was OK but not 100%. But he wants to be there to help teammates to be there in that kind of game.
&#8220;But unfortunately then we had have 10 players and also it was painful so we decided to change it. And it&#8217;s more day by day, week by week, game by game to see how it is and decide what we do.&#8221;</blockquote>
Asked whether Palmer might need surgery, Maresca hinted it was an option &#8211; but also that he did not think it would be necessary.
<blockquote>&#8220;The medical staff, they didn&#8217;t mention to me about surgery until today. I don&#8217;t know if in the next days or the next weeks, but I don&#8217;t think so, to be honest.&#8221;</blockquote>
<div id="attachment_74309" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-74309" class="size-full wp-image-74309" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Palmer-bench.jpg" alt="Cole Palmer. Picture by Getty Images" width="1024" height="667" srcset="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Palmer-bench.jpg 1024w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Palmer-bench-300x195.jpg 300w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Palmer-bench-768x500.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Cole Palmer. Picture by Getty Images</div>
<h2>Is Palmer a sell in FPL?</h2>
Palmer looked like he was back to his best in recent games.
He came off the bench to score against Brentford in Gameweek 4 and was on target against Bayern Munich in the Champions League, with a second goal narrowly ruled out.
With many moving away from Mohamed Salah and buying Erling Haaland, Palmer was set to be a popular option again as a second captaincy choice &#8211; particularly for those on Wildcard this week.
But ongoing uncertainty over his fitness makes it difficult to justify buying him for now.
This may change come Gameweek 9, when Chelsea host Sunderland, however it&#8217;s hard to be certain about his upcoming minutes.
Maresca&#8217;s men are in the Champions League as well as the Carabao Cup, so rotation is highly likely.
Even if fit for Gameweek 6, Palmer&#8217;s minutes are expected to be carefully managed.
FPL managers may therefore be better off looking elsewhere for now.
He is the second most expensive midfielder in the game at £10.4m and he could help to fund a move to Haaland for those who don&#8217;t already own him.
Antoine Semenyo and Bruno Fernandes are among the highest midfield predicted points scorers over the next few weeks, while Bukayo Saka returned to action in Gameweek 5.
Saka is another one who might be treated with caution after fitness problems of his own however.
<div id="attachment_74876" style="width: 850px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-74876" class="size-full wp-image-74876" src="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Midfielder-predicted-points.jpeg" alt="Midfielder predicted points" width="840" height="690" srcset="https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Midfielder-predicted-points.jpeg 840w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Midfielder-predicted-points-300x246.jpeg 300w, https://cms.fantasyfootballhub.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Midfielder-predicted-points-768x631.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 840px) 100vw, 840px" />Midfielder predicted points according to Hub AI</div>
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Cole Palmer was subbed off against Manchester United in Gameweek 5. Picture by Getty Images

Palmer injury latest: Is he a sell in FPL?

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