Enzo Maresca dismissed concerns around Cole Palmer’s form and said it was on the other players to dig Chelsea out of their current slump.
Maresca’s side have slipped to seventh in the Premier League after three defeats in their last four games, the latest of which came at Aston Villa on Saturday.
Palmer has been a creative force for Chelsea this season with 14 goals and six assists in 26 appearances but has not scored in five outings with his decline mirroring that of his team.
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Chelsea play host to rock-bottom Southampton tomorrow night, offering both club and player the chance to get back on track.
Asked about the England playmaker today, Maresca said: “I am always concerned about general performance. I am not concerned about Cole because Cole is a human being and he can have some moments during a season where he struggles a little bit more.
“The problem with Cole is that we rely on Cole for everything and I said since we started that we need to rely on the team. We need top players like Cole but we are not worried about him at all.”
We need to be more clinical – Maresca
Asked what Palmer needs to do to return to his best, the Italian added: “He needs to continue the way he is working. The other day he had a great chance but overall the performance from him – as I said, every game we expect a goal or assist from him so it is difficult.
“He is a human being. At this moment his performances probably reflect the team performances that we struggle to score goals so we need to be a little more clinical when we get the chances.”
On paper, a game with the Saints appears perfect for Chelsea but Maresca is wary of Ivan Juric’s side despite the fact they have claimed just nine points all season.
He said: ”I don’t trust games like this, they can be tricky games. If you watch the game against Manchester United away they were winning 1-0 until the last five minutes. It’s a tricky one and from now on, every game, every team is playing for something so they are all going to be tough.
“Our duty is to prepare every game to win. From now on we have 12 games to go and it is no doubt that all 12 are must win for us.”
Jorgensen still the number one
Maresca will stick with Filip Jorgensen in goal despite his costly error at Villa Park but will be without defender Trevoh Chalobah, who limped off after just eight minutes.
“He had a check yesterday and he will be around one week to 10 days,” said Maresca of Chalobah.
“On one side it is good because it is not an important injury but on the other side it is a shame because we lose another player at this moment with the amount of injuries that we had.”
Chelsea remain without a recognised centre-forward with both Nicolas Jackson and Marc Guiu injured.
