By 90min | Created at 2024-10-29 21:33:01 | Updated at 2024-10-30 19:24:37
1 day ago
When quizzed by Chelsea's in-house media team about his favourite goal for the club, Cole Palmer took a pause so long they had to cut the video.
There have been plenty to choose from.
Palmer arrived in west London after just 13 starts across his entire senior career for Manchester City. Until about a year before he became a regular substitute during the treble-winning campaign, unwitting players at Wythenshawe Power League were coming up against a team including Palmer.
Chelsea's talisman soon made the most talented players in the Premier League look as though they were chasing shadows in a netted cage. Palmer racked up 25 goals in a miraculous debut campaign and has remained just as prolific this season, with seven in his first nine appearances.
After mentally sifting between all those strikes, Palmer eventually couldn't split two when choosing his favourite goal: "Everton at home or my free-kick against Brighton."
It started off in style. 😮💨 #CFC | #CheEve pic.twitter.com/enALzCRtFN
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) April 15, 2024Palmer scored four against the Toffees when Sean Dyche's side limped to Stamford Bridge in April, but his first of the night was particularly special. Collecting the ball 25 yards from goal, Palmer slipped it between Jarrad Branthwaite's open legs, dragging a back-heel to Nicolas Jackson before stroking the return pass into the far corner.
That outrageous move perfectly captured Palmer's impish personality, which Mauricio Pochettino described as "in between smart, clever and naughty".
Barely five months later, Palmer had registered another Premier League four-goal haul. The England international singled out his third strike against Brighton earlier this season, curling the first top-flight free-kick of his career right into the top corner.
You won’t find many better ways to seal a hat-trick than this free-kick from Cole Palmer 😮💨 pic.twitter.com/mrtzL6Yuzd
— Premier League (@premierleague) September 28, 2024Brighton's outrageous high line gave Chelsea, and Palmer in particular, ample space to work his magic in open play, but he also showed his class from a dead-ball situation. "They had one amazing player that punished every mistake we made," Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler fumed post-game. "He punished every individual mistake. You can't stop him in one-against-one situations. We have to defend against him as a team."
Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca called Palmer the "best player of the Premier League" that afternoon - and few can argue with that claim.
