Chelsea make Joelinton admission after 'difficult' Cole Palmer fear caused by Newcastle United

Enzo Maresca has revealed he tweaked Cole Palmer's role because the Chelsea talisman would have found it 'difficult' up against Joelinton.

Palmer was thriving in what Maresca called the 'right pocket' before Chelsea faced Newcastle United in the Premier League last month. In fact, Palmer had been directly involved in 11 goals in just eight top-flight fixtures ahead of the visit of the Magpies to Stamford Bridge.

However, such was Maresca's respect for Joelinton, the Chelsea boss decided to change Palmer's position after rightly predicting that the Brazilian would line up on the left side of a midfield three for Newcastle.

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"The first time we changed him was against Newcastle at home," Maresca told TNT Sports. "He scored a goal and was probably the player of the match in that game.

"The reason why was because Newcastle had Joelinton on this side so if we left Cole on that side, probably, Joelinton was man-marking him and it was probably difficult for him. So the idea was to move him from the right pocket to the left pocket."

Joelinton's role has also been tweaked by Eddie Howe in recent weeks. The versatile 29-year-old has lined up out wide in wins against Chelsea (in the Carabao Cup), Arsenal and Nottingham Forest and is likely to do so once again when West Ham come to St James' Park on Monday night.

"He's like gold dust because you know wherever you put him, he will do a good job," Howe previously said. "His attitude never changes.

"In training, he's obviously playing different positions because we are utilising him there in games and he never flickers. He will do whatever the team needs him to do."