Enzo Maresca already has Cole Palmer replacement but Chelsea star unavailable for Brighton clash

Chelsea players celebrate Facundo Buonanotte's goal against Lincoln City (Image: Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC)

There were not too many positives to take out of Chelsea 's comeback victory over Lincoln City on Tuesday night, but one is certainly the performance of Facundo Buonanotte.

The Argentine, signed on a season-long loan deal from Brighton in the summer, made just his second start for the Blues and marked it with his first goal for the club. Some neat link-up play with Tyrique George saw the ball fall through to Buonanotte, who poked it past the Lincoln goalkeeper with a clever finish to put Chelsea ahead.

It turned out to be the winning goal in the Carabao Cup third round tie, with Buonanotte taking his opportunity in the first team. The 20-year-old has been brought to the club to essentially play understudy to Cole Palmer in the No.10 role.

Palmer, though, has been struggling with his fitness this season. The 23-year-old has not been fully fit in the opening exchanges of the campaign - missing back-to-back games against West Ham United and Fulham with a groin injury.

The England international then returned to action against Brentford, where he scored in his second-half cameo, before starting against Bayern Munich in the Champions League. Palmer produced an outstanding display at the Allianz Arena and was then asked to start against Manchester United just three days later.

Enzo Maresca , though, was forced to take the Chelsea attacker off just 20 minutes into the match at Old Trafford due to pain in his groin once again. Maresca revealed post-match that Palmer had passed a late fitness test on the morning of the game, with the player himself asking to take part. But not too long after kick-off, he was in too much pain to continue in Manchester.

"For sure Cole is one of them. Another one is Moi [Caicedo] . Joao Pedro also, since he joined us, he’s playing every game. The solution with Cole, I don't know.

"Now we have a meeting with the medical staff and we decide the best solution for him. But it's also a kind of injury that is not like black and white. It's not an injury that someday you can be better.

"It's not that you are playing and tomorrow it disappears. Sometimes you can be better, sometimes you can be worse. That's why we need to manage it day by day."

Those words from Maresca suggest that the Chelsea head coach is going to be even more careful and cautious with Palmer than before. There are clearly some concerns over this groin problem becoming a long-term issue, but Chelsea will do everything they can to prevent that being the case.

Buonanotte is a possible solution for this. But not this weekend, with the Argentine ineligible to face his parent club as per the rules of the loan deal.

A few days after the Brighton game, Chelsea welcome Benfica to Stamford Bridge for their second Champions League match. Initially, Buonanotte was not included in the Blues' European squad, however with the long-term injury sustained by Dario Essugo , the attacking midfielder replaced his teammate.

The champions Liverpool then come to SW6 the weekend after. That is the last game before another two-week international break. While we do not know for definite, it seems unlikely that Palmer will feature heavily before the break, so there could well be an extra reliance on Buonanotte.

But that is no bad thing.