Analyzing Palmer’s Man of the Match Display against Fulham

Chelsea beat Fulham 3-2 at Craven Cottage, and amongst the positives for Xabi Alonso’s side from the day. Arguably the biggest would be the performance of Cole Palmer. Cole Palmer scored and assisted, even notched a pre-assist in arguably his best Chelsea performance in over a year for Chelsea.

For me personally, after watching Palmer for years, what makes me know when Cole is at his best and when he's playing well?

When he's not 2nd guessing himself and playing to instinct, and if he plays like that, he has such a quick brain; it will be hard for any player or team to keep up with the speed of his decision-making. We saw it against PSG in the Club World Cup final. We saw it against top teams and on the international stage as well. I explain this because on his first real attacking action of the game, he bagged an assist. How? He was quick and decisive with his actions. This is a consistent theme as well through out the game

Receiving the ball from Lacroix from a headed clearance, his first thought before he gets the ball? Sees JP about to make the run into space and touches it deftly into his path, and JP does the rest; good decision-making. With his first meaningful attacking action, Cole has provided an assist already. Last season he might have held on to the ball longer than he should have and not made the right decision, which was quite too much for the liking of the Chelsea fans.

He had many moments of retaining possession under pressure. It was not just the way he kept the ball in those moments that screamed he’s back it was the positivity in a lot of his actions.

Here, he scans first and then receives and faces forward, not a wall pass back;

He's pressed, but he retains possession well and releases the ball and goes again to find space.

Palmer had the freedom to create overloads in different areas of the pitch, here he comes from the right side of the pitch and kinda gravitates to the ball, he wants to be involved but it creates an overload and it almost looks like he rotates with JP but he drags Iwobi all the way to the other side of the pivot and create a 3rd man situation with Rogers and Hato.

Rogers to Hato, Hato to Palmer and Palmer immediately spots the Rogers run and tries to play him in, he doesn’t get the weight of pass, but the intention was enough for me to know something is there for Cole and the quickness of mind again, as I highlighted earlier.

Another action, Palmer receives the ball in a transition position and Joao Pedro is on his bike again, and Palmer controls excellently and again punches a through ball behind for him to Latch onto with the speed that prime Palmer does it with and Chelsea have a good opportunity again

Palmer this time got into a 1v1 position when Chelsea were in transition. He had to take on 2 players , but managed to weave his way and provide an accurate cross for Joao Pedro to almost belt it in with a wonderful volley. Palmer in those positions used to be cash money and this was a reminder of what he could do there

He was also defensively on it in the press; we all know how good Palmer is at reading opposition actions and intercepting the ball in the press. In this scenario out of many, he does it brilliantly; he reads the pass to Cuenca and presses him on time; he only has one pass.

Lavia reads the pass as well and wins the ball and Chelsea are on a transition.

Palmer for the Rogers goal is classic Palmer, receives the ball on the half turn and fakes his man to gain advantage on the turn and that half second is enough time for him, and he spots the Lacroix run and plays him in and Chelsea score.

2nd to the last one, I couldn’t not highlight this jinking run from Palmer,

Escapes first Robinson pressure and turns again, sees that Gusto is offside after his run and has to hold on to the ball, and he goes directly into the heart of 2 Fulham players, weaving left and right and keeping the ball brilliantly and trying to place the ball in the bottom corner.

That would have been one of the best goals of the season and many Premier League seasons.

We end with Palmer’s goal, Another combination play between JP Morgan, Sanchez goes long, Rogers flicks it on for Joao Pedro, who is just in his own half.

JP is in a 1v1 situation that quickly turns 2v1, but Palmer makes a brilliant run from where he was and goes on the outside of Joao Pedro. JP plays it excellently, and Palmer megs the Gks and slots it home to cap off a Man of the Match performance

Palmer was confident and was hungry, and it grew steadily throughout the game. This is the Cole Palmer that can hold his own against the best in the world, and Chelsea are going far if he is back and paired with players like Morgan Rogers and Joao Pedro. Exciting times for Chelsea with those 3.