Enzo Maresca insists that Cole Palmer is NOT safe from being dropped

Cole Palmer must do more to stop being man-marked out of matches — with Chelsea’s manager adding that not even his England superstar is safe from being dropped.

As strange as it sounds, given Palmer’s reliability since signing for £42.5million from Manchester City and his ability to become Chelsea’s match-winner in a flash, some supporters have been calling for Joao Felix to get more of a chance over their 22-year-old creator.

That clamour followed Chelsea’s 0-0 draw at Everton, when they missed out on going top and Felix was an unused substitute. Maresca addressed the situation ahead of taking on Fulham on Thursday, saying of Palmer being man-marked: ‘He still has to improve things in those moments.

'Especially because if you get frustrated, you lose your focus on the game. For sure, game after game, he’s going to understand more about when they mark him man-to-man, how to move.

‘We already protected him in the Conference League which is why he was not in the squad. That is why he always starts in the Premier League.

‘(Wesley) Fofana was always starting in the Premier League because he didn’t play in the Conference and (Romeo) Lavia is the same. But this does not mean they are always going to play.’

Asked if Palmer would always play, given he has started every Premier League game under him, Maresca said: ‘I take the decision game by game. Goals and assists and how he is helping us. Him and Nicolas (Jackson), they are not only scoring goals but helping with how we press and our intensity.’

Meanwhile, Maresca suggested he would sanction the sales next month of any player who tells him they want to go, though he does not know if Christopher Nkunku will express a desire to exit.

Nkunku has been playing second fiddle to Jackson, and Maresca said: ‘The focus is on the Fulham game. We aren’t thinking about players who want to leave.

'If they knock on the door and they want to leave, I’m not going to say, “No, you have to stay here, 100 per cent”. If they want to leave, the best thing for everyone is that the players who aren’t happy leave.

‘We like Christo and we want him here and there will always be players that are not happy and some that will ask to leave in January. I am not sure if that will be Christo’s or another player’s case. We want to keep them here because we are happy with them.’

Maresca spoke with his former boss Pep Guardiola over the phone on Monday and said it makes him laugh when critics claim City’s manager is finished.

‘Absolutely, 100 per cent,’ Maresca said of finding it all amusing. ‘Pep is completely calm and knows exactly what has happened there. If you are involved in football you can see that, with the amount of injuries they have, this is not normal.

‘But the one thing we know in football is because of the situation they have, people are waiting for something bad to happen so they can be happy. When you see someone being so successful, season after season, the moment they drop, people love to say, “Ah, look, he is not good enough”. But I don’t think that is the correct thing to do.’