Monday night saw Palmer net four goals as Chelsea claimed a 6-0 win against a dismal Everton at Stamford Bridge.
However, much of the talk after the game was of a spat between Madueke, Jackson Martinez and regular taker Palmer over who should take a first-half penalty. The latter ultimately won the argument to net his ninth penalty of the season.
Palmer became the first Chelsea player to score a hat-trick in successive home games since Didier Drogba in 2010, having also claimed three goals in a 4-3 victory over Manchester United earlier this season.
That game saw Palmer being handed the match ball, which was signed by his team-mates. Fans at the time noted that one person had jokingly written “S*** player” on the ball.
And now one fan is jocularly claiming the player behind the comment was Madueke after yesterday’s tensions.
On X they joked: “Yeah Noni was definitely the one who wrote “s*** player” on the United match ball.”
Mauricio Pochettino however, was furious about the penalty debacle.
After the game, the Chelsea player said: “It is a shame. We cannot behave in this way, I told them ‘this is the last time of this behavior’.
“It is impossible to have this type of behavior after this performance. If we want to be a great team, we need to change and think in a collective way.
“It’s a process for a young team who need to learn a lot. I was talking about this to the players after the game. It’s the last time I want to see something like this. I want to apologize to the fans.
Palmer and Madueke were involved in a heated discussion before the former netted his spot kick (Getty)
“We need to make clear next time that happens. They need to learn and be professional. We need to be focused on the collective. They knew it was Cole. Cole is the taker. It’s a clear example that it’s a process we still need to learn.”
Pochettino added when asked if Madueke and Jackson would be punished and if they apologized: “No [there will be no punishment]. It’s about learning. They are young guys.”
“Remember Burnley? No one wanted to take and he [Palmer] showed the personality… The discipline is going to be more strong. If they behave like a kid? Here it’s impossible. It’s a shame and unacceptable thing.
”I think we all agreed this behavior cannot happen again and they were wrong… We are like in a school now to show they were wrong and they need to learn. If they don’t learn after we will take some decisions. Now it’s about to learn and use this type of experience to move on and be better.”