After the emotional high of defeating Barcelona in Champions League action on Tuesday, the attention of Maresca and his players has turned to a big Premier League fixture at Stamford Bridge this Sunday.

Arsenal make the trip across London as league leaders. They sit on 29 points after 12 matches, six more than the Blues, who are second. The ambition will be to cut that gap.

We head into the London derby on the back of a comprehensive 3-0 win over Barcelona in the Champions League and our head coach confirmed that Palmer – who has not played since mid-September – is available for Sunday’s Premier League encounter with the Gunners, and could even start the game.

‘Yes, Cole is available for both [to play and to start],’ the Italian told the gathered media at Cobham.

‘We are looking okay [after Barcelona]. Dario Essugo also took part of the session this morning, which is good news too.’

Estevao Willian shone against the La Liga side in the week, earning the Player of the Match award from fans on the Chelsea Official App following his stunning strike in the 3-0 win.

Maresca was asked by journalists about the fans' excitement around seeing the Brazilian teen partnering Palmer at some point, with the Italian hinting at that prospect whilst also highlighting how pleased everyone is to see the England international return from his September injury.

‘Having Cole back is good news and everyone is happy,’ added Maresca.

‘The fans are happy, his team-mates are happy and the most important thing is that Cole is happy [to be back] because in the end, players want to play games and make the training sessions every day.

‘He can help us a lot. He is probably our best player and we are happy he is back. Now we have to give him time to be 100 per cent fit. He has done fantastic in the past and no doubt he is going to do very good things for this club in the future.'

When asked about the prospect of Estevao and Palmer playing together, he added: 'Yes, they can play together. It depends against which team and the game plan, but for sure the fans are excited to watch both together. We are also excited, thinking at the end we always need balance between the two phases [on the ball and off the ball].’

Another big game awaits the Blues at Stamford Bridge, with Arsenal - top of the Premier League - arriving hot on the heels of Barcelona.

Maresca welcomes these fixtures, however, and is hoping for a repeat result on Sunday before then turning the attention to the next big game.

‘I said after [Barcelona] it’s another big game on Sunday,' he added. 'We finish one against Barcelona, as you say we won and it was a good feeling. Now we have another one.

'For me, they are all important games. For sure, beating Barcelona is good and if we are able to beat Arsenal, it’s a nice feeling. But in the end it’s three points and then on Wednesday we have Leeds which is another three points. We will try our best to beat Arsenal and then we will see.’