Cole Palmer has revealed he didn’t realise he would be playing as a ‘false nine’ against Arsenal until one day before the match.

Chelsea faced the Gunners at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, with Palmer playing as a striker. However, the role also required the England international to occasionally drop into midfield to help Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo and Conor Gallagher— a strategy that worked well, as the Blues were completely dominant in the fixture, and should have won it if not for a loss of concentration late in the game.

“I found out the day before I was going to be playing as a false nine, sort of in the right pocket,” Palmer told Chelsea’s official website.

“I spoke to the manager, he told me what he wanted from me, and I believed I could do it because I’ve played there before. So I just tried to get in the pockets, turn and play well.

“We just tried to drop down, bring them high so we could play in behind if they went man-for-man. But we did struggle to play out a bit. We both did, I think we cancelled each other out quite well. It was a good game and we could have come away with three points.”