Why Cole Palmer was the 'only good news' from Leeds defeat for Enzo Maresca & Chelsea | OneFootball

Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca is pleased with Cole Palmer's return, which he described as "the only good news" during Wednesday's 3-1 defeat to Leeds United.

After two relatively satisfactory performances against Barcelona and Arsenal last week, ironically, it was 17th-placed Leeds that ended Chelsea's seven-game unbeaten streak.

Chelsea dominated the possession of the ball as expected, but the hosts had the better chances at Elland Road.

Maresca could not even hide his disappointment after such a poor display from his side.

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"Everything," the Italian told Chelsea's in-house media team after the game when asked what went wrong for Chelsea.

"We have to be honest. I think they were better than us in all the aspect.

"There is nothing we can take from this game."

After this loss, Chelsea have now dropped to fourth in the Premier League table and are trailing nine points behind league leaders Arsenal.

It is not all doom and gloom, however, as key Chelsea player Palmer made his return to the pitch for the first time since the Manchester United defeat in September.

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"Probably the only good news of the night," Maresca said about Palmer's return.

"You know, happy for him. He's back. Now he needs to build a little bit of physical condition, and he will be important for us for sure."

"He's getting better, but he needs to play minutes," Maresca added about Palmer's condition.

"Tonight we (gave) him more or less half an hour. Hopefully, we can give him more in the next game."

Chelsea will now have to shift their attention to Saturday's trip to Bournemouth's Vitality Stadium.

"Now we need to reset," Maresca said about the plan for the weekend.

"Again, Saturday will be very similar to tonight's game; the environment, the intensity. We need (it) to win the game."