A trio of Chelsea players were involved in a embarrassing altercation over who took the Blues’ second-half penalty during Monday night’s thrashing of Everton. Cole Palmer, Noni Madueke and Nicolas Jackson all wanted to take the spot kick, with captain Conor Gallagher having to break the three apart.

Despite being four goals to the good, there was plenty of debate within the Chelsea ranks over who should step up and take the penalty. Madueke had been involved in the build-up to the penalty being awarded, with the England youth international keen to take it himself.

Jackson – who had already scored earlier in the game – was also trying to make his case, but in the end, skipper Gallagher snatched the ball off Madueke and handed it to Palmer. Still unhappy about the outcome, Jackson appeared to attempt to smack the ball out of the hands of his team-mate, with Palmer looking unimpressed by the Senegal international’s actions.

It didn’t knock Palmer off his stride though, as he maintained his perfect record from the spot in a Chelsea shirt. For the ninth time this season, the ex-Manchester City starlet slotted home with confidence, taking his overall tally for the evening to four goals and his total for the Premier League campaign to 20.

However, Alan Smith – who was on co-commentary duty – wasn’t impressed by the scene, with the former Arsenal man telling the trio to “grow up”, before later adding: “Oh dear oh dear. You’re 4-0 up and you’re arguing between yourselves. What is going on here?”

It was the only sour note of an otherwise fine evening’s work for Chelsea. Palmer kicked proceedings off after just 13 minutes, when the 21-year-old combined neatly with Jackson on the edge of the box, before curling a left-footed strike into the bottom corner.

One very quickly became two for Palmer and Chelsea moments later, this time the attacker heading home from close range after Jordan Pickford’s parried save fell to him in front of goal. Palmer completed his hat-trick in stylish fashion before the half-hour mark, lobbing Pickford from 35 yards out, after the Everton shot-stopper’s mistimed clearance fell straight to the in-form Chelsea man.

It got even worse for Everton before the interval, with Jackson hooking home a stylish half-volley, all before the second-half penalty shenanigans.

An Alfie Gilchrist sixth in added time put the cherry on top of the cake for Mauricio Pochettino‘s men, who move to within three points of the European places. The Blues next face Manchester City in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley on Saturday.