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Chelsea boss gives surprise reason for 'not needing' Cole Palmer against Newcastle United

Enzo Maresca
-Credit: (Image: George Wood)


Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca says his side did not see the need to use Cole Palmer against Newcastle United as the players on the field were doing a good enough job to beat the Magpies. Palmer terrorised Newcastle at the weekend as he has many teams so far this season as the Blues ran out winners in the Stamford Bridge Premier League encounter.

The England star was absent from last nights Carabao Cup last-16 encounter at St James' Park, having been brought up to Newcastle but then left to warm the bench by Maresca.

Asked if that was a mistake given the 2-0 victory for Eddie Howe's men which saw them progress to a quarter-final tie at home to Brentford, Maresca rubbished the idea his side needed Palmer on the field.

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Asked if there was a reason why Palmer had been made to do the round-trip but was not brought on, Maresca said; "No, no, no. Simply because I think Joao [Felix] and Christo [Nkunku] were doing very good. The reason why [we brought him] was in case we needed Cole but Joao and Christo were doing well so there was no need to change."

They may have lost the game, but the Chelsea boss felt his side were still doing enough to come back and win it. And asked if he saw an improvement and a change in Newcastle from the league meeting a few days earlier, Maresca was not convinced.

He added; "I didn't see a big difference. I think the last game they were more or less in the same way as tonight; trying to be aggressive.

"Last Sunday, and today, I think we did quite well. Probably the first goal is one that we can avoid because we knew that playing through the middle, they are quite aggressive, so the solution is to go outside but it can happen. I didn't see a big difference between tonight and two days ago.

"For them, they probably need to win this game to build the momentum because of the last results."