MANCHESTER, England -- Enzo Maresca has revealed that Cole Palmer was not fully fit before starting the defeat to Manchester United on Saturday, but praised the England forward for the "effort" to make himself available at Old Trafford.

Palmer was substituted after just 20 minutes with Chelsea already a man down thanks to Robert Sánchez 's red card and a goal down after Bruno Fernandes ' opener.

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Ruben Amorim's team eventually won 2-1 and Maresca confirmed afterwards that he had taken a risk with Palmer's fitness.

"Cole, he trained this morning, he had a test this morning to play this game," said Maresca.

"He was not 100% fit. He made a fantastic effort to play this game, but he was not 100%."

Palmer walked s

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