Mauricio Pochettino may be about to trust £20m Chelsea star vs Arsenal amid huge injury worry

Considering Chelsea's form going into the international break, head coach Mauricio Pochettino may be reluctant to make too many changes when Arsenal come to Stamford Bridge on Saturday. The Blues won their last three matches in all competitions before the majority of their squad jetted off to represent their countries.

Three consecutive victories against Brighton, Fulham and Burnley mean the feel-good factor, that was evident throughout the pre-season tour of the United States, has returned to the club. So Pochettino may not want to change the personnel in the side too much from the XI that beat Burnley but there could be some forced alterations to be made.

Cole Palmer picked up a minor knock to his hamstring while on international duty with England Under-21s and was sent back to Cobham early by manager Lee Carsley. «I think Cole would be fine, but we don't take any chances with any of the players,» Carsley said.

«If there is a slight doubt that they're going to miss a game at the weekend, we get them back to the clubs as quickly as we can. We could've kept Cole here another day and see how it was, but we didn't think it was right.»

Palmer has hit the ground running since making the transfer deadline day move from Manchester City to Chelsea in the summer. Last time out away at Burnley, the 21-year-old netted his first goal for the club, converting a penalty after Raheem Sterling was fouled inside the box at Turf Moor.

If Palmer was fully fit for the trip of Arsenal at the weekend, then Pochettino would undoubtedly choose the in-form attacker. Chelsea, however, may be cautious with Palmer as they do not want to aggravate a hamstring injury that, at the moment, seems to be a minor problem.

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