XABI Alonso said that Cole Palmer acknowledged his mistake after his sending-off in Chelsea’s 2-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur last weekend.
Palmer was booked for a clash with Mateus Fernandes and then saw a second yellow card after stamping on former Blues team-mate Conor Gallagher in the 80th minute.
Chelsea goalkeeper Mike Penders, who was making his first league start for the club in the absence of the injured Emi Martinez, punched the ball into his own net from a corner in the 77th minute.
Mathys Tel scored Spurs’ second after running from his own half before firing a 25-yard shot into the bottom-left corner with three minutes left.
It was Spurs’ first win at Stamford Bridge since 2018 and only their second in the league in over 36 years.
“We spoke and for sure he knows the mistake he made,” Alonso said when asked if Palmer had apologised. “Things that you can avoid. I hope that this is not going to be repeated. He’s aware of that, he’s mature and it was a mistake.
“He’s in a good space, he connects very well socially with his team-mates. They like him, they want Cole smiling, they want Cole having fun, enjoying his game because when we see that, he’ll have a better team.
“I think that the team-mates and everyone in the building know him well enough to know how special he is. He embraces everyone, everyone likes him and he’s popular in the building.”
Palmer is serving a one-game ban when Chelsea faced Liverpool in the last sixteen of the EFL Cup at Anfield in midweek but will be back for the Premier League fixture against Manchester United at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
Joao Pedro missed the Spurs game through injury, and Alsonso revealed the striker is set for a spell out.
“He has an injury on his thigh and he is going to be out for a few weeks,” Alonso said. “Let’s see how many. We don’t want to predict on that, but he’s not ready for the next games.
“Of course [it is damaging for the team], he is a key player. We will miss him, but we will have to be ready to deal with the injury and to be competitive and to try to win games with the players that we have available. This is the situation. We are ready to fight for it and ready to prove that we can show the level.”
Alonso feels Chelsea are equipped to deal with the Brazil international’s absence.
Alonso said: “This is why you build a squad. Some players are important, but these are situations that can happen and you need to be looking for solutions, not looking for excuses.
“I assess all the possibilities we have, what we have been preparing during the week and the qualities that all the players have to choose the best team for each game.”
Midfielder Morgan Rogers started up front last weekend, with winger Geovany Quenda, 19, replacing Joao Pedro.
It meant Chelsea had no recognised striker on the pitch until Danny Welbeck came on with two minutes left.
“They are the strikers but there are other players that can play in that position,” Alonso said. “We need to find the right balance between the things that they are good at and how they connect with the other ones. We tried with Morgan, playing close to Cole. We have to sometimes be creative and sometimes try a few things to see how this is going to work out.”
Meanwhile, Alonso backed 21-year-old Penders to recover from his mistake.
He said: “It’s a challenge to deal with good performances, with mistakes, but that’s part of the job. That’s part of being a professional footballer, playing on the highest level and what happened on Saturday, it’s past. It’s a lesson for him, for everyone and now we fully support him for tomorrow [against Liverpool].”
