Chelsea midfielder Palmer: Poch trying me in ‘false 9’; I’ve apologised for hitting him!

Chelsea midfielder Cole Palmer enjoyed his ‘false nine’ role for Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Arsenal.

Palmer struck from the spot on the day.

He told chelseafc.com: “I found out the day before I was going to be playing as a false nine, sort of in the right pocket.

“I spoke to the manager, he told me what he wanted from me, and I believed I could do it because I’ve played there before. So I just tried to get in the pockets, turn and play well.

“We just tried to drop down, bring them high so we could play in behind if they went man-for-man. But we did struggle to play out a bit. We both did, I think we cancelled each other out quite well. It was a good game and we could have come away with three points.”

Palmer also stated: “When they scored their second goal I was getting a drink. I went to throw the bottle away, as you do, but didn’t look. I just saw it loop dead slow and hit the gaffer. I said sorry to him and apologised properly after the game. Hopefully he won’t drop me for that!

“We get on well. I try to show him every day in training what I can do. Work hard and just try to repay him because he puts a lot of faith in us.”