Alonso urges Cole Palmer ‘to learn’ from red card in Chelsea’s defeat to Spurs

Forward sent off after 80 minutes for second yellow card

‘We need to have maturity to deal with difficult moments’

Xabi Alonso said that Cole Palmer must learn from his red card during Chelsea’s shock 2-0 defeat to Tottenham, who claimed their first win at Stamford Bridge since 2018 thanks to an own goal from Mike Penders and a late effort from Mathys Tel.

Spurs, who had won on one of their previous 34 trips to west London, were already 1-0 up when Palmer earned a second yellow card for catching Conor Gallagher with a late tackle. The playmaker could have been sent off earlier – his first booking came during a clash with Mateus Fernandes – and Alonso agreed that this could be an important lesson for the 24-year-old.

“Absolutely,” Chelsea’s manager said. “I haven’t seen them [back] on TV but as far as I have been told probably he [the referee] got it right. We need to have this maturity to deal with difficult moments. When you have conceded for 1-0, still probably it was 15-20 minutes to go. I need to check the action to talk with Cole but it is one to learn for the future for sure.”

Alonso said there are no wider concerns with Palmer’s character, even though Chelsea’s No 10 could have been sent off against Everton last weekend too. “Today, for sure, yes, but it is not a concern,” Alonso said. “It is a moment to keep calm, a moment to keep mature, for everyone.”

Chelsea struggled without João Pedro and do not know when the forward will return after picking up an unspecified injury in training on Friday. “He has a lot of fluid,” Alonso said. “He felt it yesterday and we need to wait to do the test and to know the whole seriousness of the injury.”

Alonso defended Penders after the goalkeeper punched a corner into his own net on his full Premier League debut. “We win, we lose together,” he said. “We support Mike and we support the rest of the team. He will learn from that.”

Roberto De Zerbi hopes that Spurs can use this victory as a springboard. “Why not?” the Spurs manager said. “There is no reason why not. I can’t understand why we have to ask this question. Because we won two games in a row. But we didn’t win nothing. We want to improve, improve and improve, to be better game by game, week by week. I think we have suffered enough.”