Enzo Maresca says he has never seen Cole Palmer practice penalties, admitting the Chelsea playmaker is “not normal” after he set a new Premier League spot-kick record.
Palmer scored twice from the spot during Sunday’s dramatic 4-3 victory over Chelsea, the second a wonderful ‘Panenka’ that all-but secured the three points.
The Englishman has now scored 12 consecutive penalties in the league, breaking the record for the longest successful streak that was previously held by Manchester City legend Yaya Toure.
Palmer claimed in an interview soon after signing for Chelsea that he does not practice penalties in training and Maresca confirmed that that remains the case now.
“Since we started I haven’t seen Cole shooting penalties,” Maresca said. “In terms of the second penalty? It’s Cole and you have to expect anything.
“Yeah, absolutely [it is remarkable]. Cole belongs to that kind of players that are not normal players. They are top players. Top players do things that normal players, or us, say: ‘How can he do that?’
“It’s because he’s Cole, it’s because he’s top. We expect this from Cole.”
Chelsea were 2-0 down inside 11 minutes at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium after Dominic Solanke and Dejan Kulusevski both scored as a result of Marc Cucurella slips. The Spanish defender changed his boots immediately after the second of those goals and later showed on social media that the initial pair had been thrown straight in the bin.
However, Maresca’s side fought back in fine style, with Jadon Sancho reducing the deficit, before Palmer’s penalties came either side of an Enzo Fernandez strike.
“Marc Cucurella said he was trying to give a bit of emotion to the game,” Maresca said. “Probably it was too much.
“Since we stared, we’re trying to work on the way we want to play on and off the ball, but also in terms of mentally and togetherness. To come to this stadium and think you’re going to win or compete without suffering or without some bad moments is impossible. We were ready for that.
“Probably it’s too much after 15 minutes, to give away two goals. But it’s the perfect win, probably, because of this.”
