Enzo Maresca explains early Cole Palmer substitution amid injury fears | OneFootball

Cole Palmer's half-time substitution in Chelsea's 3-0 win over Legia Warsaw in the Conference League was pre-planned, head coach Enzo Maresca confirmed after the game.

The 22-year-old's blistering form has taken a downturn since the start of the year, coinciding with Chelsea's overall inconsistency.

Palmer recently spent time on the sidelines because of a hamstring injury, with his minutes already managed earlier in the season as Maresca opted not to register him for the Conference League group stages.

The former Manchester City playmaker, who scored 25 goals across all competitions in his first season in west London, started Thursday's cruise control win over Legia, but was withdrawn at half-time with the scores still locked at 0-0. His replacement, Noni Madueke, scored a brace in the second half, building on the go-ahead goal netted by young winger Tyrique George.

There was concern among Chelsea's supporters post-match that Palmer coming off was sign that he'd picked up another injury, but that sentiment was pushed to one side by Maresca in his post-match media duties.

"No, no, no, we planned for him and for Tosin 45 minutes so everything was planned," the Italian proclaimed before stating "we planned the game to try to have our best players for this game and to give also a chance to the rest players to recover energy and at the end."

Enzo Maresca's Chelsea ran out comfortable winners / PressFocus/MB Media/GettyImages

Barring a dramatic turnaround at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea look to have secured their place in the semi-finals of the competition – Legia having posed a completely different threat from recent Premier League games against Brentford and Tottenham. "I think has been overall a professional performance, good result, probably second half we were much better compared to the first half for different reason," Maresca mused.

"I said many times that we need to learn how to play different kind of games, you know, when you face Tottenham, we said many times that they try to high pressing, there is more space but when they sit back you have to be more quick on the ball, you have to try to have a shot from outside the box because they are all inside the box, so if you don't shoot it's difficult."

"Very happy first of all for the Chelsea academy because it's one of our boys from the academy so very happy for him," Maresca added when questioned on his feelings towards George opening the scoring.

"He was quite good first half, take responsibility, second half in the middle probably was a bit better but the one that I fall in love tonight is Josh Acheampong because for me potentially he can be fantastic player, top player for this club, for the football in general and a good player show you that can play in different position and he can do good.

"He was full back, good, midfielder, good, central defender, good, so it's not about I play in that position or in that position, if you are good player you can be in different position."