Enzo Maresca delivers Cole Palmer fitness update after half-time Chelsea decision vs Legia Warsaw explained | OneFootball

Enzo Maresca has clarified his decision to withdraw Cole Palmer at half-time during their 3-0 win over Legia Warsaw in the Conference League.

The 22-year-old returned to the Chelsea starting XI on Thursday night for the Conference League quarter-final 1st leg tie in Poland against Legia Warsaw.

It came after Palmer was benched against Brentford last Sunday and instead brought on at half-time to try to influence the game, which ended up finishing goalless in the Premier League.

Maresca explained his thinking after the Brentford draw, confirming: "Probably from outside, you receive in the wrong way the reason why Cole and Nico didn't play. They didn't play, not because we want to rest them for (Legia). They didn't play because there was a game plan, because Brentford had 24 hours more than us, because some of the players were tired.

"So we planned the game to start in one way, and then to finish with Cole, with Nico, with Pedro, with four or five changes. And it nearly worked, because we deserved to win, especially in the last half an hour, but it was all planned. But we didn't decide to leave them out for today."

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Palmer has been eased back after missing the Arsenal defeat prior to the March international break due to a hamstring injury. Maresca is taking no risks and managing the England international's workload ahead of the season run-in.

With Palmer starting on the bench against Brentford, the Chelsea attacker was named to begin against Legia, however he was brought off at half-time with the game goalless. Along with Tosin Adarabioyo, Maresca made the decision to bring Palmer off and replaced the duo with Levi Colwill and Noni Madueke, who ended up scoring two goals to help the Blues to a 3-0 victory.

Palmer's exit at half-time came as a surprise with Chelsea looking for an opener, however Maresca has confirmed the decision was pre-planned regardless of the result.

"We planned for him and Tosin to come off on 45 minutes," revealed the Chelsea boss. "Everything is fine."

Chelsea face Ipswich Town on Sunday in the Premier League and Palmer will be hoping to step up his return with more minutes under his belt as the Blues continue their quest for Champions League qualification.