Enzo Maresca reveals what he told Cole Palmer after Chelsea’s win over Southampton

Enzo Maresca lifted the lid on his chat with Cole Palmer after his Chelsea side returned to winning ways with a comprehensive 4-0 victory over Southampton. Chelsea have experienced a drastic dip in form over the winter period and entered tonight’s Stamford Bridge contest on the back of three straight defeats in all competitions.

But the Blues moved back into the Premier League top four in some style, putting Ivan Juric’s sorry Saints to the sword in front of a rapturous home crowd. Christopher Nkunku headed home the opening goal of the game in the 24th minute and Pedro Neto and Levi Colwill both capitalised on the visitors’ shoddy defending to make it three before the halfway stage.

Chelsea increased the deficit with 12 minutes of normal time remaining as Marc Cucurella slotted home from close range to score his third league goal of the season – and bottom-placed Southampton simply had no answer. Palmer, so often Chelsea’s talisman since his arrival from Manchester City, has experienced an uncharacteristic dry spell in front of goal of late and was left visibly disappointed as referee Thomas Bramall blew his whistle to signal full-time in west London.

It means Palmer is without a goal in his last seven appearances for the club and Maresca was seen putting an arm around the England youngster as the pair shared a brief on-field conversation. Asked what he said to Palmer, Maresca told TNT Sports: ‘It’s quite easy. You have here [on the punditry panel] former players who have all been big players and all of them went through some bad moments.

‘It’s normal. It’s like a team. You cannot expect Cole Palmer, every season or every game, to be like last season or like the first part of the season. It’s normal, it’s something normal. ‘He’s a human being, he’s missing some things and now it’s how we react. So I was telling him that. Everything is normal. He’s happy, he’s okay.’.

The Chelsea head coach added: ‘I’ve said already that he has been lucky in his career, even if he is young, because he’s shared moments, changing rooms, with top players. ‘He knows that any top players go through bad moments. ‘It’s how you react. Keep calm, keep working, keep laughing. Be calm, be happy, enjoy the football. It’s the only thing you have to do.’.

Maresca was able to hand minutes to some of Chelsea’s exciting young talent as the clock wound down at Stamford Bridge, with Mathis Amougou, Tyrique George, Shim Mheuka and Josh Acheampong all introduced in the second period. ‘There were probably too many young players at the end! But it’s nice to see,’ Maresca said.

‘It was also the game a little bit that we can give young players a chance to get some minutes. ‘But for sure, Chelsea’s academy has always been a good one so we already have many players like Levi [Colwill] who is there and in the future we can have more.’.

Asked whether Chelsea’s youngsters could receive more opportunities over the coming weeks, the Italian replied: ‘Yes, especially because we have the Europa Conference League and then after two days we have Leicester here. ‘And for us, the priority is to bring this club to where this club has to be which is the Champions League.’.

Maresca remains confident his Chelsea side can secure a top-four finish but knows his players ‘need to be ready’ right up until the final day of the season. Quizzed on Chelsea’s top-four chances, Maresca responded: ‘If we are able to win games then we are going to be there. If we lose games….

‘It will be up and down and it’s how we managed that. We need to be ready.’. For more stories like this, check our sport page. Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Arrow MORE: ‘We expect more from him’ – Enzo Maresca sends message to Chelsea star after Southampton win.