Enzo Maresca has shrugged off Harry Kane’s criticism of England players such as Cole Palmer withdrawing from the Three Lions squad this month after the midfielder played the full 90 minutes in Chelsea’s 2-1 win over Leicester.
The November international break was the third of the season already with clubs starting to pick up more injury issues in their squads.
England interim boss Lee Carsley was able to rely on captain Kane to stay in the squad for matches against Greece and the Republic of Ireland.
But players such as Palmer along with Trent Alexander-Arnold, Phil Foden and Bukayo Saka all withdrew from the England squad.
Enzo Maresca was asked about Harry Kane’s comments
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Kane publicly criticised some of the players for what he perceived as picking club over country.
“I think England comes before anything. England comes before club,” Kane said.
“England is the most important thing you play as a professional footballer and Gareth [Southgate] was hot on that and he wasn’t afraid to make decisions if, you know, that started to drift from certain players.”
Palmer was a doubt to feature in Chelsea’s first match back after the international break.
But the 22-year-old played the full match against Leicester as Chelsea picked up their first league win of the month.
Goals from Nicolas Jackson and Enzo Fernandez gave Chelsea all three points with Palmer coming close to finding the net as well.
Maresca was asked after the game about Palmer playing the full 90 minutes in relation to Kane’s criticism last week.
But the Chelsea boss was diplomatic in his response and refused to take the bait.
Cole Palmer withdrew from the England squad this month
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“My reaction is we finished the game 10 minutes ago, we won 2-1,” he said.
“There is no comments. I’m not thinking about Harry Kane or what he’s saying.”
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Chelsea beat Leicester 2-1
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Chelsea’s win saw them pile more pressure on their closest rivals with Manchester City just one point above them in second.
Pep Guardiola’s side have lost four games in a row in all competitions and face a tricky test this evening against Tottenham.
Chelsea return to action on Thursday in their fourth Europa Conference League match against Heidenheim.