Chelsea star Cole Palmer is not expected to undergo surgery on the groin injury that has kept him unavailable for the last four matches and he should be out for 'weeks and not months'.

Palmer, 23, has been nursing the issue for some time and missed two games before the first international break after pulling out during the warm-up against West Ham.

He returned to face Brentford in September and made an instant impact off the bench, scoring his first of the season. After starting and finding the net at Bayern Munich in the Champions League, it felt as though Palmer was about getting back to his best, up until he was substituted within the first quarter against Manchester United.

Enzo Maresca said post-match that Palmer was not 100 per cent fit and he has not featured since, missing the Carabao Cup tie at Lincoln City, the Champions League home fixture against Benfica and the Premier League double-header against Brighton and Liverpool.

Although there is some concern that Palmer has been getting a recurrence of the same groin problem, the Daily Mail reports that it has been decided his injury is not serious enough for him to go under...