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‘Palmer can’t always be like how he was last season’published at 22:52 Greenwich Mean Time 25 February

FT: Chelsea 4-0 Southampton

Chelsea

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca speaking to TNT Sports: “We all needed that. We were in a bad run in term of results. The performance was always there maybe except against Brighton. The club needed that. We are happy.

“In these month and half has been when I have pushed players even more to believe in the process. Since we started, we have almost been in the top four. But now it’s normal to go through some bad moments. It’s about how we react and how we continue to believe in what we do. The players are fantastic and worked hard every day.”

On Pedro Neto playing centrally: “In this moment, we have five, six, seven important injuries. All the clubs when they have this kind of injuries, we are all on the same page. We started the season very good for long period. Then with injuries especially to our box striker, we tried different solutions. We tried with Pedro as a number nine last week. He was good then and tonight as well.”

He Christopher Nknko: “I am happy with him. But I know he can give more. We expect more from him. But at the same time, we try to understand him. He is not a number nine and not a winger. He played as a winger tonight. He is an attacking midfielder. The problem is that sometimes we need to find the balance.”

On youngsters coming off the bench: “Probably, there were too many young players at the end. The Chelsea academy has always been a good one. We have already many players like Levi Colwill and hopefully in the future, we can have more.”

On Tyrique George’s chances of playing in the Conference League: “Yes. Especially because we have the Conference League and then Leicester. For us, the priority is to take the club to where it need to be – which is the Champions League.”

On Cole Palmer’s form: “We are all former players. All of us went through some bad moments. You cannot expect Palmer to be like he was last season or how he was in the first part of the season. It’s normal. He is human. I was telling him it was normal. He is happy. He is OK. He has shared the changing room with some top players and he knows that every top player goes through bad moments. It’s about how you react. Keep working, keep laughing, keep calm, be happy and enjoy the football. It’s the only thing you have to do.”