Enzo Maresca played down suggestions that Wilfred Ndidi should have been sent off for a nasty-looking tackle on Cole Palmer during Chelsea’s 2-1 win over Leicester City.
The Blues reinforced their place inside the Premier League’s top three after goals from Nicolas Jackson and Enzo Fernandez rendered Jordan Ayew’s late consolation penalty irrelevant.
The three points were richly deserved for Chelsea, who dominated the match from start to finish and in truth should have won by a greater margin.
There was a moment of concern in the first half, though, when Palmer, who played the full 90 minutes despite pulling out of England’s squad for the recent UEFA Nations League internationals, was caught on his Achilles by a badly timed tackle from Leicester midfielder Ndidi.
The Nigerian’s tackle was clumsy, rather than malicious, but saw many on social media – as well as pundit Joe Cole – question whether the yellow card awarded by referee Andy Madley was sufficient punishment – a decision which was reviewed and verified by VAR Paul Tierney.
Maresca seemed happy enough in his post-match press conference, arguing that Ndidi’s tackle lacked intent, and that the situation was to different to Chelsea’s Premier League clash with Manchester United, when Lisandro Martinez chopped Palmer down in the latter stages with a knee-high tackle.
“I don’t think Cole is the target. I don’t think that,” Maresca said when asked by reporters if he thought Palmer was being singled out.
“What I think, and I said after the Manchester United game, when there is bad intention, there has to be a different kind of punishment from the referee. I think Man United was bad intention.
“I’m not saying Wilf [Ndidi] was bad intention because I love Wilf. Overall, when there is bad intention, I think the punishment has to be different.”
“Today’s foul? I don’t think so [whether it was a red card]. I saw the clip and I don’t think it is a red, to be honest. The other one [vs Manchester United] I said that was a red card, for sure.”
Maresca also batted away questions over Palmer playing the full 90 minutes in the wake of criticism from England captain Harry Kane for players withdrawing from international duty without good cause.
“My reaction is that we finished the game 10 minutes ago, we won 2-1 and the rest, there is not any reaction, there are no comments. We finished the game 10 minutes ago.
“I am not thinking about Harry Kane or what he’s saying. I don’t have any comments about this.”
