Enzo Maresca explains Cole Palmer substitution reaction after Chelsea penalty miss

Enzo Maresca has revealed Cole Palmer headed straight down the tunnel after being substituted in the 1-0 win over Leicester City because he’d played through illness.

The Blues’ talisman is enduring a rare dry spell in front of goal and failed to take a golden chance to end his slump when he stepped up to take a penalty in the first half of Sunday’s game. While his effort was solid, it was saved by Mads Hermansen as Palmer missed the first penalty of his senior career.

Palmer was then substituted in the second half – a rare sight inside Stamford Bridge – and Maresca revealed after the game that the England international was barely fit enough to play in the first place.

“It’s very easy: Cole, yesterday, didn’t train and during the night, he didn’t feel well,” Maresca explained post-match. “The reason why he didn’t train yesterday is because he didn’t feel well.

“This morning, he woke up and he asked me, ‘I want to be on the pitch because I want to help this team, this club to play Champions League’.

“So in the last two days, he was completely out. Fever, is it something I can say in English? Diarrhoea. In the last 48 hours, he didn’t train with the fever and this bad feeling. This morning, he asked to play the game and this shows how these players want to bring the club where it belongs to.”

Maresca went on to confirm Palmer’s illness was behind his substitution and his decision to head straight down the tunnel, before the midfielder eventually returned to the bench.

Palmer is now closing on two months without a goal, while his last assist came all the way back in December. He will undoubtedly be keen to end both streaks across Chelsea’s next two Premier League games, with London rivals Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur both on the calendar.