The Blues return to action after the November international break today, featuring in the Premier League’s early Saturday kick-off as we travel north to take on Burnley at 12.30pm.

Maresca has often expressed his certainty that this Chelsea side are always a better team when we have Palmer in the line-up, but even without our No10 the Blues built up a good head of steam before the break. That was underlined by back-to-back wins over Tottenham Hotspur and Wolverhampton Wanderers in our last two league games.

As we attempt to pick up where we left off, there are obstacles to overcome, though. Some of our players only returned to Cobham from international duty late in the week, while Palmer will be absent again after suffering a fractured toe just as he was set to return to team training.

‘It’s important to continue with that form, knowing that after two weeks off for the international break with players away, it is difficult,’ he said. ‘I didn’t see Moi [Caicedo] until Friday, so you can understand how difficult it is. But we are going to try to continue to keep the momentum.

‘I’m very proud because for us Cole is like [Erling] Haaland for [Manchester] City, like [Mohamed] Salah for Liverpool. If Haaland doesn’t play for City or Salah doesn’t play for Liverpool, they are not the same team.

‘So I’m very proud, but especially very proud of the players, because it is a difficult moment without Cole. They showed they are good players and they all want the best for this club.’

Another player who is currently unable to feature in Maresca’s plans due to injury is Romeo Lavia, and our head coach provided an update on the Belgian midfielder.

‘We try to protect him,’ added Enzo. ‘Romeo now just needs to be focused on recovery. I think he will be at least one month out, then we will see.

‘I had a chat with Romeo on Thursday, but we need to continue to persist, because at the end we are going to find a solution for him. But unfortunately he is out again.’

The Italian will be able to call uoon Liam Delap, who recently returned from a hamstring injury to start our 3-0 league win over Wolves before the international break.

With that in mind, Maresca discussed the striker’s natural strengths, and how he is trying to help Delap add more range to his game.

‘For sure Liam is part of our learning process. I know Liam very well from years ago and Liam is a fantastic player, especially when there are spaces to attack.

‘He struggles a little bit more when there is no space, in the way he is. So in games like Wolves and probably today, he is going to struggle a bit more because there is no space to attack.

‘Against teams that we can attack in behind with space he is a top player, he is fantastic. But in the same moment it is a learning process for him, how to play against these teams, how to be better, how we can help him to be better, to play against teams that wait for us and sit back.’

It remains to be seen if that is the pattern today's game at Burnley will follow, but however it plays out, Delap and his fellow Blues will no doubt be doing everything they can to claim another three points and continue building momentum, despite those who are absent.