“In this case” – Willy Caballero reveals why Cole Palmer was taken off against Bournemouth

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the Chelsea News

·31 décembre 2025

“In this case” – Willy Caballero reveals why Cole Palmer was taken off against Bournemouth

Chelsea assistant Willy Caballero has explained the decision to take Cole Palmer off in the second half against Bournemouth.

The Blues dropped yet more points in the race for Champions League football after being held to a 2-2 draw by the Cherries on Tuesday night.

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Chelsea conceded twice from long throw ins, but found themselves 2-1 up thanks to a penalty from Palmer, and a brilliant strike from Enzo Fernandez.

Willy Caballero explains Cole Palmer substitution

As expected Enzo Maresca made a number of changes from the Villa defeat, with Estevao, Malo Gusto, Josh Acheampong, and Liam Delap all handed starts.

Defensively Chelsea were all over the place, especially in the first half, and in attack they were once again lacked quality in front of goal.

Chelsea fans weren’t happy with the decision to take Palmer off. (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)

Maresca did turn to his bench, but the substitutes didn’t have the desired impact he was hoping for, and one decision really annoyed fans.

The decision to replace Palmer was met with boos, and Caballero, who was standing in for media duties due to Maresca feeling unwell explained the decision.

“Of course any supporter wants to have their best players on the pitch and we want to have the best players on the pitch as well,” he told hold his post-match press conference.

“But Cole is coming from a long injury so in this case we need to find the right substitutions to go for the game and also to take care of the health of our players because we want to have them for the long period and for the rest of the season in every single game.”