Cole Palmer claim made by Enzo Maresca ahead of Leicester v Chelsea FA Cup clash | OneFootball

Away from the hustle and bustle of the Championship promotion race, this weekend is all about the FA Cup for Leicester City.

Having reached the quarter-finals stage of the competition they won in 2021, Enzo Maresca's side have been handed a tricky tie, facing Premier League outfit Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

Maresca's men will have to be wary of a number of Chelsea's star players, none more so than Cole Palmer, a player Maresca is more than familiar with having worked with the youngster whilst he was a part of Pep Guardiola's coaching staff at Manchester City.

Enzo Maresca makes Cole Palmer claim

Having struggled for game time at Manchester City, Palmer of course made the move to Chelsea in the summer, where he has shone this season.

Maresca, though, claims he is not surprised one bit by how well he has done at Stamford Bridge, saying he doesn't see any change between Palmer now and the player he saw at the Etihad, simply that he now has more opportunities to show his talent.

"I think people that know Cole, they don’t see any change - in terms of the things that he’s doing now, he was always doing." Maresca explained, via the Mirror.

"The only difference is, unfortunately with City, he had many players like him so he struggled a little bit.

"At Chelsea now, he's found more space so he’s showing himself, so Cole now is the player that everyone is watching.”

Given that statement, Maresca was also quizzed on whether he felt the move from City to Chelsea had been a good one for Palmer's career.

Whilst most general onlookers would agree with that statement, Maresca was rather more coy, perhaps due to his Man City links.

"I don’t know to be honest, this is a question for Cole," Maresca added.

"But probably to decide to play every game, I said many times, we have players that unfortunately this year they didn’t play too much so they come to me or the club to ask to leave. At the end they work every day not to be on the bench, they work every day to play and when you don’t play, you are not happy.

"And with Cole, he decides to leave, with Chelsea, [so] he would play more minutes. With Cole, it was quite clear, if you see him every day in the training session or you see him when he plays some minutes with City.

"No one at City had any doubts about Cole as a player.”

After such a glowing review it will certainly be interesting to see what Leicester City and Maresca's game plan is to stop Palmer.

Supporters will be able to see how live on television, with the match set to be broadcast on BBC One on Sunday afternoon.