Six games, 6 goals and 4 assists. The extraterrestrial numbers from Cole Palmer, who dreamed throughout Stamford Bridge of the historic poker of goals against Brighton to put Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea in the fight for the first places (4-2).
It seems unbelievable that only a few months ago Palmer didn’t have a place in Southgate’s starting eleven and everyone who asked for it was right. There are few other variations of players than him currently in the Premier League, where everyone is wondering how Pep Guardiola can let a very intelligent and decisive footballer escape who last year he was selected as the best young player in the competition.
Even Robert Sánchez’s failings don’t overshadow Palmer’s delicious talent. Chelsea started the loss against Brighton thanks to a disastrous release by the Spanish goalkeeper, who left his goal open for Rutter to score with a header (7′). The atmosphere at Stamford Bridge was getting ugly, but Maresca knew how to find the tickles in the gaps behind his rival’s advanced defense and did plenty of damage. And yes, with Palmer. Before scoring the first, they disallowed a goal for offside and in another one-on-one they sent the ball against the post. A defensive mess that punished the third, after a back pass from a generous Jackson (21′) so, soon after, Sancho was brought down by Rutter in the area and scored the second penalty (28′). Specialist from eleven meters and also… From 30? As Palmer completed his ten frustrating minutes with a direct hit from an unstoppable free kick that marked his hat trick (31′).
In a flash, Chelsea swept Brighton, but Robert Sánchez brought them back into the game. This time there is an error in the release of the ball, the ball is given forward to Baleba and he converts it at will (34′). But no one was colder than ‘Cold’ Palmer, who decided to kill his rival’s faith very quickly, punished another bad start, received Sancho’s space and killed Verbruggen at the short post (41′). No one in the history of the Premier League has ever played poker in the first half.
A game that kills talent. It also had the recovery of Robert Sánchez, who had some useful saves but little work in the second half in which Chelsea inexplicably did not score a few more. Far from Hürzeler changing his approach to pressing the rival field, the ‘blues’ continue to enjoy running in the open field. This time with the assistant version of Palmer, but it wasn’t Jackson’s day facing the door. First because Dunk scored one on the same line after dribbling past the goalkeeper and later because he was very slow by definition. He did see the goal on a Cucurella corner kick, but it was offside.
The second half was completely dominated by Maresca’s team. Brighton was underpowered and short of air due to pressure wear. Tiny Mitoma, controlled by Malo Gusto. Serious game from Chelsea also in that sense, placed between the battle between City, Liverpool, Arsenal and Aston Villa.
match lineup
1
27
3
8
29
6
11
25
15
20
19
1
24
30
27
4
5
20
41
18
14
22
Stamford Bridge
Bart Verbruggen1
Ferdi Kadioglu24
70′
32′
69′
Pervis Estupinán30
28′
28′
78′
Mats Wieffer27
56′
77′
Adam Webster4
56′
Lewis Dunk5
26′
62′
Carlos Baleba20
33′
Jack Hinshelwood41
78′
Danny Welbeck18
80′
20′
27′
30′
40′
Georginio Rutter14
6′
70′
70′
Kaoru Mitoma22
Replacements
Jason Steele23
Tariq Lamptey2
Igor Julio3
56′
70′
Imari Samuels47
69′
Julio Enciso10
70′
78′
Jakub Moder15
62′
Yasin Ayari26
56′
Yankuba Minteh17
70′
78′
Evan Ferguson28
80′
coach
Enzo Maresca
Fabian Hurzeler
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
