Cole Palmer was withdrawn from Chelsea’s starting XI to face West Ham as a precaution after ‘feeling something’ during the visitors’ warm-up at the London Stadium.
The 23-year-old attacker would no doubt have been itching to get back out on the field after a quiet start to the season in Chelsea’s goalless draw at home to Crystal Palace last weekend.
And while Palmer was named in Enzo Maresca’s side for tonight’s derby in the capital, there were worrying scenes as the England international appeared to hobble off the pitch alongside a member of Chelsea’s medical staff shortly before kick-off.
It was soon confirmed that Estevao had been given the nod to replace Palmer in the the Blues’ lineup, with the 18-year-old Brazilian coming in to make his full Premier League debut.
Estevao made his first competitive appearance for Chelsea against Palace last weekend, coming on as a substitute for Jamie Gittens in the 54th minute at Stamford Bridge.
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Though it was not immediately apparent why Palmer had dropped out of Maresca’s XI, Sky Sports reporter David Craig provided some clarity on the situation just moments before Lucas Paqueta opened the scoring with a wonder strike in east London.
Craig revealed that he had spoken to Maresca while he made his way to the dugout and the Chelsea boss confirmed that Palmer had ‘felt something’. However, the Italian refused to be drawn on the exact nature of the problem.
With that in mind, Chelsea felt it was sensible to remove Palmer from the match as a ‘precaution’, with Maresca not prepared to risk arguably his most important player at this early stage of the campaign.
Maresca was said to have ruled out the possibility that Palmer may have come down with an illness.
Paqueta sent Hammers fans into raptures with a breathtaking 30-yard strike beyond Robert Sanchez to break the deadlock in the sixth minute, but the hosts’ celebrations were short-lived.
Pedro equalised just nine minutes later before Pedro Neto and Enzo Fernandez also netted in a frantic end to the first half, with Graham Potter’s men booed off at the halfway stage.
In his pre-match analysis for Sky Sports, Jamie Redknapp suggested Potter may have been breathing a sigh of relief upon hearing the news of Palmer’s withdrawal.
However, the ex-Liverpool and Tottenham midfielder warned the West Ham boss that Palmer’s teenage replacement in the starting XI, Estevao, was also a ‘tremendous talent’.
‘For neutrals, everybody that is tuning into this game, it’s such a disappointment,’ Redknapp said.
‘But for West Ham, it is great news for the manager because he’s their best player, their talisman, he’s the one player that can make things happen.
‘What they’ll do now is Estevao will either come into the No.10 or Joao Pedro will come in just behind Liam Delap so it does change things.
‘But make no mistake, Estevao is a tremendous talent as well.’
On Estevao, former West Ham and England goalkeeper Rob Green added: ‘He is one exciting player.
‘He came on last week and really looked lively.
‘He looked to take on his man out wide so I think they’ll just say: rinse and repeat, just go do that again.’
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