Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca has defended Cole Palmer following his penalty miss against Leicester City in the last Premier League last weekend.

The England international failed to convert from the spot for the first time in his career as the Blues secured a narrow 1-0 win against the Foxes at Stamford Bridge.

Marc Cucurella stepped up with the only goal of the game on the hour mark as the Blues returned to fourth position in the Premier League behind Nottingham Forest.

Speaking ahead of the Chelsea's round of 16 second-leg clash against Copenhagen, Maresca told the Blues faithful that Palmer will miss more spot kicks once he has has been entrusted with that responsibility.

“Cole is going to miss more penalties, and the reason why is because he is the one in charge of shooting penalties,” Maresca told the Chelsea website.

“If you don’t shoot, you don’t miss. I have no doubt in the future he will miss more penalties but I also have no doubt he score more penalties.

“The penalty the other day didn’t affect him in a negative way.”

WDN