Alonso urges Palmer to put England disappointment aside and focus on Chelsea

Xabi Alonso has told Cole Palmer to forget his latest England omission and concentrate on delivering for Chelsea after Thomas Tuchel again left the forward out of his squad.

The 24-year-old was not selected on Friday for England’s Nations League matches against Croatia and Spain. It is the latest setback in a difficult international period for Palmer, who has made only five appearances for his country since scoring in the Euro 2024 final defeat by Spain.

Tuchel previously criticised the Chelsea attacker for missing too many opportunities to represent England after Palmer withdrew from the squad because of injury in September. Palmer was also omitted from England’s 2026 FIFA World Cup squad.

His club form has been mixed this season. Palmer has scored five goals and provided three assists in 11 appearances in all competitions, but he has not scored from open play in the Premier League since August. He was also sent off in Chelsea’s 2-0 defeat by Tottenham last month.

Alonso, however, remains pleased with Palmer’s contribution and believes his attention should be on helping Chelsea continue their progress.

“I’m very happy with his quality, attitude and the impact he’s having on the rest of the team,” the Chelsea manager said.

“We speak about Chelsea, we have enough on our plate. We have to focus each weekend and that’s what I can impact and talk about.”

Alonso said Palmer should enjoy playing for Chelsea rather than becoming distracted by his international situation.

“He needs to focus on playing good football and enjoy playing with Chelsea,” he added.

The Spaniard confirmed he had discussed Palmer’s dismissal against Tottenham with him, but said most of their conversations had focused on football and improving Chelsea’s performances.

Chelsea are fourth in the Premier League and could be boosted by the return of goalkeeper Emi Martinez for Sunday’s trip to Sunderland.

Martinez has been recovering from a fractured jaw sustained three weeks ago, but he has been cleared to play while wearing a protective face mask.

Alonso said the Argentina international had trained with the mask for most of the week, although he acknowledged that it would take time to adjust to the equipment.

“It is not the most comfortable thing,” he said. “He’s been training almost the whole week with it and for a certain period of time he’ll have to deal with it.”