Chelsea aren’t having a vintage season but it’s hardly beyond salvation. Their interest in Europe is intact and a Champions League place is well within reach.
Cole Palmer is one of the biggest reasons why. His current dry spell in front of goal hasn’t gone unnoticed but there’s much more to come from him as Enzo Maresca and the Blues battle to make a success of 2024-25.
Palmer will be an easy pick for new England manager Thomas Tuchel when he names his first squad for World Cup qualifiers against Albania and Latvia this month.
Cole Palmer needs a kickstart – or a rest?
Chelsea might not be the chaotic mess threatened by their transfer activity and squad management in recent years but they’re no model of consistency either.
They’ve won three and lost three of the six Premier League games since Palmer last found the net. Before that, they were winless in five. Before that, they won five in a row.
So important is Palmer to Chelsea that it’s difficult to know whether his scoring drought is a cause or an effect.
He has now played eight matches in all competitions without scoring a goal. Chelsea went out of the FA Cup but a midweek win at FC Copenhagen gave them a good opportunity to progress in the Conference League.
There’s every chance fifth place will be rewarded with a Champions League spot next season and Chelsea are the team in position. They’re only two points off third.
Nevertheless, Palmer’s lack of recent goals is worth examining in light of the prolific, dead-eye finishing he’s already demonstrated.
Palmer, who is ranked at no. 4 in FourFourTwo’s list of the best attacking midfielders in the world, is experiencing a dip in form in front of goal. There’s no doubt about that.
In the six Premier League matches since he opened the scoring against Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge in the middle of January, he’s hitting the target fewer times per appearance than the previous 21 despite having more shots overall.
He’s gone from averaging 0.67 goals per game to nothing despite an insignificant drop in the quality of chances, and his goal-creating actions and shot-creating actions are both down too.
Palmer occasionally cuts a frustrated figure on the pitch at the moment. In the attacking third at least, the slickness of touch and the ruthlessness that seem to come so naturally to him have deserted him.
He’s working through it but players with such flow tend to look like they’re finding things less easy when they have to graft through every play.
But Palmer’s pass completion in the last six games represent his most consistently reliable use of the ball and that’s not because of any appreciable increased conservatism in his passing.
The cruel reality, the biggest reason not to doubt him, is that he created a situation in which benchmarking him against himself is almost a pointless exercise.
Four of the 14 goals he scored in the first 21 Premier League games of the season came in one extraordinary half against Brighton & Hove Albion. He looked and proved unstoppable in that half but it’s an insanely high bar.
Maresca proclaimed Palmer the best player in the Premier League after that game. He’s named the 22-year-old in his starting line-up for every league fixture this season.
That in itself might reveal the biggest clue of all as to why Palmer’s been less fluid lately.
Only 14 players have clocked up more minutes in the Premier League this season than Palmer. He’s younger than all of them except Ryan Gravenberch – younger than the Chelsea man by ten days – and seven are goalkeepers.
2,373 minutes isn’t just a lot of football. It’s a lot of football across which to maintain exceptionally high standards set in an absurd but brief spell at the very top of one’s game.
In FourFourTwo’s opinion, Palmer will be back to his best soon enough. He’ll be a vital player for Maresca and for former Chelsea manager Tuchel as he looks to make his mark in charge of England.
He’s a proven quantity at the highest level and he’ll be back to his best soon enough.
In the meantime, critics and fans alike might look at the workload Palmer’s getting through and the expectations we have of him.
His manager might consider whether a rest would do him good.
