Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca makes 'not fair' Cole Palmer comment ahead of Crystal Palace

Enzo Maresca believes his Chelsea players must be relishing their shortened pre-season - as they haven't had to do any running! He also added that it was "not fair" for the club to reply solely on Cole Palmer.

Due to a lack of time to prepare for the new season, Maresca has been unable to conduct fitness tests on all his players. Despite winning the Club World Cup this summer, Chelsea's exploits in the USA have left them playing catch-up.

Maresca revealed: "We didn't do any physical tests. We didn't have time to do this kind of thing. There was no time! When I was a player, my pre-season was different. It was longer, 40 days, one month... So you have time to do all the tests.

"Do I think the players quite like it? I imagine they prefer the technical work than the running. Probably they prefer it!"

Chelsea's season extended until July 13 when they faced and defeated Paris St-Germain in the States. They will only have been back in training for 13 days before they face Crystal Palace at Stamford Bridge.

Maresca acknowledges there will be a fitness cost as they compete against teams who have had more preparation time. However, the big question is whether they will hit a wall a few weeks into the season or whether they can ride the momentum from their cup win.

Last season, they lost their opening game to Manchester City but only suffered one more defeat - to eventual champions Liverpool - over the next four months. Given their lack of downtime and preparation this time around, Maresca believes it's crucial to start in the same way.

He stated: "Very, very important. Hopefully we can start in the same way we started last season.

"Or we can continue in the same way we finished last season. Because I think also we had a good run at the end of the season in the Premier League.

"But no doubt that during the season it's normal to have some moments where you achieve many games in a row and some games where you struggle."

Chelsea's title bid last season faltered over the festive period when they drew with Everton and suffered defeats against Fulham and Ipswich.

This slump coincided with a dip in form from key player Cole Palmer, who was burdened with too much responsibility.

Interestingly, Palmer was also topping all those bleep tests Chelsea haven't managed to conduct this season yet.

However, with new signings like Joao Pedro, Liam Delap and Jamie Gittens, and young talents like Estevao Willian getting opportunities, the pressure on Palmer should be lessened.

Maresca commented: "Since I joined the club I said it's not fair, it's not correct to give all the pressure to Cole.

"When Cole struggles for one month, two months, it's important the team supports him.

"You are not going to finish top four if it's everything around one player. So I think the team supports quite well.

"You need all the team in behind. Otherwise if it's just one player, in case he gets injured, in case he struggles, what do you do?".

"You need to build a team. If for one moment one player is not good enough, you need another one. You need the team, you need the entire squad."