Cole Palmer made it five penalties out of five and nine goals for the season in total with his coolly-taken spot kick in Chelsea’s 1-0 win over Fulham on Saturday. But it was the pass to release Raheem Sterling in the build-up that really caught the eye.
Having cut in from the right flank and shaped to shoot in first-half stoppage time at Stamford Bridge, Palmer instead threaded an ingenious reverse pass between three Fulham defenders, allowing Sterling to skip away from Issa Diop and win the foul.
Palmer’s disguised pass releases Raheem Sterling in the Fulham box
Sterling cuts inside and draws the foul from Issa Diop for the penalty
It was one of few standout moments of quality in a poor first half and it was no surprise it came from Palmer. Even in a dysfunctional Chelsea team, the 21-year-old, a £42.5m signing from Manchester City, has been one of the Premier League’s top performers.
Chelsea had not created much before that breakthrough moment against Fulham but, from Palmer’s perspective, at least, it was not for the want of trying. In fact, he had already come close to releasing Sterling with similar passes on several occasions.
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Free match highlights from Chelsea’s 1-0 win over Fulham
There was an example in the 13th minute, when he collected an incisive pass from Axel Disasi in a comparable position, looked up, and quickly funnelled the ball forward towards his former City team-mate, only for Kenny Tete to make a last-ditch interception.
Palmer tries to thread an early pass through to Sterling but it’s cut out
Then, on 31 minutes, Palmer hurdled a Joao Palhinha challenge and skipped away from Antonee Robinson, again in that inside right position from which he is so dangerous, before aiming another diagonal pass towards Sterling which Tete just managed to block.
Another attempted pass by Palmer to Sterling is cut out
Palmer’s persistence paid off eventually. Another goal and another trademark ‘cold’ Palmer celebration followed.
But his scoring record – albeit after some uncharacteristic misses in last week’s Carabao Cup loss to Middlesbrough – should not distract from his best attribute which is the quality of his passing.
“He is someone who can get in great positions and time a pass well,” said Sterling after the win over Fulham. It is a feature of his game which had Pep Guardiola waxing lyrical not so long ago.
“Cole has a special quality in front of the box,” said the Manchester City manager. “When he has the ball there, most of the time it ends up in the net. It is a talent that is difficult to find.”
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Cole Palmer reveals to Sky Sports he did not plan to leave Man City in the summer
Palmer hoped to show that talent in City colours. He said as much in an interview with Sky Sports last week. But Guardiola’s options are such that he felt comfortable cashing in and it is to the youngster’s credit he has immediately done so for Chelsea instead.
The statistics underline the extent of his creativity.
According to Opta, Palmer ranks behind only Jeremy Doku in terms of open-play expected assists per 90 minutes this season. He is making more through-balls than Trent Alexander-Arnold, his average of 1.09 per 90 minutes putting him second only to Lucas Paqueta.
Palmer is Chelsea’s top chance-creator this season. A deeper look at the numbers throws up even more evidence of his effectiveness. Palmer ranks eighth in the division for both primary and secondary shot assists per 90 minutes. He ranks even higher for passes which break the opposition’s backline.
He tormented Fulham when cutting in from the right flank on Saturday but he is equally dangerous when stationed in the No 10 position. Mauricio Pochettino has happily used him in both roles.
That he has a relatively modest total of four assists says more about the wastefulness of his team-mates than anything else.
On the one hand, his tally is roughly in line with his ‘expected’ total of 4.30. But it is worth noting that all but one of the nine other Premier League players to have registered a total of four assists this season have done so with a lower ‘expected’ total than Palmer.
They are not the only ones. Pedro Porro and Pascal Gross have provided seven and six assists respectively from only fractionally higher ‘expected’ totals than Palmer. Phil Foden and West Ham’s James Ward-Prowse have six apiece from lower totals.
While his contemporaries have been able to count on the clinical finishing of their team-mates, Palmer has not, with Chelsea only scoring 35 times from 42.10 expected goals, the third-biggest underperformance in the Premier League this season.
The problem for Palmer is that, with the exception of Sterling, his team-mates are struggling to match his speed of thought and execution. He looks on an altogether different wavelength. It is an issue which could be seen repeatedly in Saturday’s game.
After 15 minutes, Palmer again found a pocket of space in an inside right position to receive Enzo Fernandez’s pass, before playing it first-time into the feet of Conor Gallagher, who could not react quickly enough, struggling to get the ball properly under control before firing a rushed effort over the bar.
Palmer collects Enzo Fernandez’s pass in space in the right half space
Palmer aims a first-time pass towards Gallagher but the midfielder is caught on his heels
There was a similar example soon after half-time, when, having wriggled between Robinson and Andreas Pereira on the edge of the Fulham box, Palmer laid the ball off to the unprepared Armando Broja, who was unable to sort his feet out or get a shot off at all.
Palmer darts past two defenders and prepares to lay the ball off to Broja
Broja collects Palmer’s pass but is too slow to get a shot off
Gallagher was culpable again midway through the second period, when, in a similar position, Palmer collected a short pass from Noni Madueke with his back to goal, turning in the same motion, only to see his flicked ball in behind roll under the midfielder’s foot.
Palmer receives Noni Madueke’s pass with his back to goal
Gallagher is then unable to control Palmer’s clever pass before Bernd Leno claims it
Palmer could not hide his frustration on that occasion, hopping on the spot and holding his hands to his face as Bernd Leno rushed off his line to collect the loose ball, his good work wasted again.
In the end, Chelsea were fortunate that a single goal proved sufficient to win the game. Results are improving, though, and the hope for Pochettino is that better chemistry will develop in time.
He is not the only one who will be watching with interest.
Gareth Southgate handed Palmer his first senior England call-up in November, using him from the bench in the European Qualifiers against Malta and North Macedonia.
Cole Palmer made his England debut as a substitute against Malta
He now looks a good bet to feature at the tournament itself, especially as his emergence has coincided with the struggles of some of England’s other supporting forwards.
Three years ago, Southgate’s European Championship squad featured Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, Jack Grealish and Sterling. Palmer is indisputably performing at a higher level than all of them.
Chelsea are already feeling the benefits of his presence. Whether they can truly capitalise, though, is another question. For now, Palmer looks a step ahead. It is down to his team-mates to catch up.