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16th April 2024
08:20am BST
Mauricio Pochettino admitted he was "so upset" after his Chelsea players were involved in a humiliating on-field argument over a penalty.
The London side were taking on Everton in the Premier League on Monday night, and for the first hour everything was going brilliantly for them.
A Cole Palmer hat-trick and a Nicolas Jackson goal had the Blues 4-0 up at half time and absolutely cruising.
But then Chelsea got a penalty just after the hour mark, and things got a bit embarrassing for them.
A number of the players, including Palmer and Jackson, were involved in an argument over who should take the penalty.
Jackson and Noni Madueke had initially argued over the penalty after grabbing the ball from Malo Gusto. This prompted experienced head Thiago Silva to step in to try and calm the pair down.
Then, Conor Gallagher told Madueke to give the ball to Palmer, who is Chelsea's usual penalty taker. Palmer eventually got the ball, and pushed away Jackson who had run over to the spat again.
Reacting to the incident on social media, fans labelled the argument "embarrassing" and compared the Chelsea players to school children.
One person wrote: "Chelsea kids fighting to take a penalty tonight, EMBARRASSING."
A second said: "Even we didn't fight for penalty like this in schools."
After the game, Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino admitted that the incident had left him "so upset" and clarified who should have taken the penalty.
The Argentinian said: "The players know, the staff know, the club know that the taker on penalties is Cole Palmer. All that happened after is a shame.
"I am so, so upset by the situation."
Pochettino went on to say that he was "not going to accept" this behaviour from his players, adding that he would be "very strong" in his reaction and promising that it would not happen again.
In the end, Palmer scored the penalty in question, getting his fourth goal of the night and making him the joint-top scorer in the Premier League this season, tied with Erling Haaland on 20 goals.
Chelsea ran out 6-0 winners on the night, a result which maintains any hopes they have of playing European football next season.
For Everton, the humiliating scoreline sees them stay in 16th place on 32 points, just two points above the relegation zone.
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