Enzo Maresca explained why he took Cole Palmer off when Chelsea were searching for a goal against Aston Villa on Saturday evening.Â
Joao Pedro put the Blues ahead during a dominant first half at Stamford Bridge, but they were pegged back an hour into the game when substitute Ollie Watkins equalised.
The Villa striker went on to score a late winner to keep them within three points of leaders Arsenal in the Premier League table and stretch the gap between them and Chelsea to ten points.
Enzo Maresca explains Cole Palmer sub that left Chelsea star miffed against Aston Villa
Palmer was taken off and replaced by Estevao Willian with a little under 20 minutes of normal time remaining, but the hosts created precious few chances in that period as they lost more ground in the top four race.
The playmaker was visibly frustrated as he trudged off the pitch and took his place on the bench. Maresca said that Palmer was tired and he wanted to keep him fit ahead of Tuesday’s encounter with Bournemouth.
“He was doing well. Off the ball, he was working very hard, pressing,” the Italian told Sky Sports after the final whistle.
“He was also a little bit tired. We have another game in 48 or 72 hours so it’s trying to keep all of them fit.”
It was Unai Emery’s second-half changes, however, which altered the match after the Villa boss made a triple substitution shortly before Watkin’s equaliser. Maresca, though, argues that that goal, and not the subs, was the real game changer.
“By the time they scored their first goal, we should have already scored two or three goals.
“After the goal we conceded, the dynamic of the game changed a little bit. It’s frustrating, also because I don’t think the game showed ten points difference between us and them so it’s even worse.
“Off the ball, we were very good. On the ball also, we were very good, creating chances. We started in the same way in the second half but the goal we conceded changed the dynamic of the game.
“We need to take the good parts, which is the way we played for one hour and we need to understand how we can improve the last half an hour.
“After we conceded the goal, we lost a bit of balance. We needed a little bit more control over the game and then this probably goes with the game after game experience, and you need that.
“It’s something we need to analyse and understand.”
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