Cole Palmer has emphatically told his Chelsea teammates: ‘I’m our penalty taker’ after yet another row in Monday night’s thrashing of Everton.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side put six goals past the struggling Toffees, but another embarrassing on-field row over who should take the penalty overshadowed the victory.
After Nicolas Jackson and Noni Madueke debated who should take the 64th minute kick, Palmer was ultimately forced to take over and take the kick himself.
He converted to score his fourth of the evening but Pochettino remained indignant with his struggling players and the issue became a theme of the evening.
The Chelsea boss then publicly stated for the first time that Palmer is now the designated taker and Palmer himself confirmed this status in a post-game interview on NBC Sports.
Cole Palmer made an emphatic statement that he is Chelsea’s designated penalty taker after Nicolas Jackson and Noni Madueke brawled in Monday night’s 6-0 win over Everton
Palmer made it clear that he is Chelsea’s main man when it comes to post-match penalties
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‘Everyone wants to score, especially the attackers. It’s nothing, we talked about it, we swept it under the rug,” Palmer began.
‘I think it just shows the mentality of the players. They want to take it over but the gaffer has told us it has been put aside and I’m sure it won’t happen again.”
Asked if he was Chelsea’s first choice penalty taker, Palmer then replied: “Well, I am now, yes.”
Pochettino said at his press conference: ‘First of all I want to tell you that you have to make it clear that they know, the players know, the staff knows, the club knows, that Cole Palmer is the penalty taker.
‘It is a pity. I’m so angry about this situation. We talk in the locker room about the image we send because this is Monday night football and in every country they were watching the game.
‘We cannot send these types of images. It is a shame and I would like to apologize to the football people and our fans because that is unacceptable.”
Pochettino went on to say that Madueke and Jackson would be ‘out’ if they behaved that way again.
“I told them that this is the last time that I cannot accept this kind of behavior. They are all involved in this situation, all out next time,” he told Sky Sports.
Noni Madueke (left) and Nicolas Jackson (right) argued over who should take the penalty
Conor Gallagher had to intervene to allow Cole Palmer (right) to take over the ball
Palmer eventually pushed his teammates away to take the penalty, which he duly converted
‘This is not a joke. That’s impossible after a performance like this.
‘It shows that we are in a process in which we will learn a lot. We need to change and think more collectively than about individual performance.”
Palmer added: “Other players wanted to take it, which was understandable. I am the penalty taker and wanted to take it.
‘We’re just trying to show everyone that we want to take responsibility. Maybe it was exaggerated, the argument. We laughed and joked about it.”
Palmer’s four goals at Stamford Bridge took him to 20 Premier League goals for the season, level with his former Manchester City teammate Erling Haaland.
Nine of those 20 goals came from the penalty spot after Palmer emerged as Chelsea’s most reliable scorer.
Dele Alli, guest pundit on Sky’s Monday Night Football, said the feuding players were “showing their age” during the row.
“To me they are showing their age,” Alli said as he gave his analysis of the incident.
‘I’m not on the training pitch every day and I don’t know who the designated penalty taker is.
Injured Everton star Alli commented on the penalty incident during his MNF debut for Sky
“As far as I know in the last big match, when there was pressure in the last minute, I didn’t see them all fighting to get the win,” he added.
Alli then gave some heartfelt advice to the rival strikers as he watched Everton slump to a disappointing defeat at Stamford Bridge, continuing: ‘It’s okay if it’s 4-0 and you want to get on the scoresheet. If you want to get on the scoresheet, don’t do it when it’s 4-0 in a no-pressure situation.
“It’s a shame because they had a great night and people are talking about this instead of their great performance,” he said.