Chelsea Boss Explains Why He Left Cole Palmer on the Bench in Newcastle Defeat

• Cole Palmer was in Chelsea's squad in their Carabao Cup loss to Newcastle United on Wednesday but didn't play
• The England star sat on the bench all game as the Blues struggled to bounce back after going 2-0 down in the first half
• Blues boss Enzo Maresca explained the reason he left the on-form forward on the bench in a big game

Chelsea were eliminated from the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night following their 2-0 loss to Newcastle United.

Their best player, Cole Palmer, did not play in the game despite being in good form in the league.

Blues boss Enzo Maresca provided an explanation for omitting Palmer from his lineup.

The Blues had a difficult evening at Newcastle. Alexander Isak opened the scoring before Axel Disasi's own goal gave the Magpies a commanding lead.

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Maresca chose to start with Christopher Nkunku, Joao Felix, and Mykhaylo Mudryk up front. The Italian coach refused to bring on Palmer to save their League Cup campaign.

Maresca explain Palmer benching

Palmer has made a strong start to the season with seven goals and five assists in the Premier League.

Despite travelling and making the matchday squad and not coming on when the team needed him, Chelsea fans were baffled. Maresca provided an explanation.

"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," via Football London.

Maresca may have the Manchester United clash on Sunday in mind, so giving his star player a night off was important.

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Palmer backed to win Ballon d'Or

Briefly News earlier reported that Chelsea legend Gianfranco Zola tipped Palmer to win the Ballon d'Or in future.

The London club has never produced a Ballon d'Or winner, but a few of their players have come close. Palmer finished 25th in this year's award rankings.

Why Palmer doesn't play in Conference League

In another report, Briefly News reported why Palmer was dropped from Chelsea's Europa Conference League squad.

Maresca decided to omit his star player from the squad, which will play the six league phase matches, to lessen his workload.

Source: TUKO.co.ke