Chelsea clicking back into gear at perfect time as Cole Palmer factor raises Champions League hopes | OneFootball

Nicolas Jackson goals and Romeo Lavia return a positive but it is Palmer’s form that gives Chelsea best chance of securing top-five finish

On the day that Liverpool celebrated their No20, Chelsea could, at last, hail the return of their own.

But in the dying moments here at Stamford Bridge, his drought-ending penalty completed a near-perfect Chelsea afternoon: three vital points, victory over the champions and the club's talisman back in the goals after 18 games without one.

Palmer's immediate post-match reaction made clear that criticism during the more recent part of that run has been irksome, even as he claimed to be prolific in shutting out the noise.

“Social media these days is just full of idiots,” he told Sky Sports. "The trolls and that, I don’t pay any attention to that.

“I feel like I’m mentally strong. Whatever people say doesn’t bother me, I’ve had it all my life growing up so I don’t really care.

“But obviously I feel pride in helping the team and if I’m not doing that I’m not happy.”

Had Palmer not been afforded that chance from the spot by Jarrell Quansah’s trip on the tireless, surging Moises Caicedo you would still have said this performance was a step back in the right direction.

Helped by Liverpool’s adventurous approach and the spaces left by a more lightweight, second-string Reds midfield, the 22-year-old had been more involved in Chelsea’s play and suited by the structure of a game that allowed the home side to attack quickly in transition.

He had played a creative hand in the second goal, routing Kostas Tsimikas and crossing into the heart of the six-yard box from the byline on his weaker right foot. From there, Virgil van Dijk’s clearance cannoned into the luckless Quansah and in.

From the byline on the opposite flank, the drought had almost come to an end in open play. Nipping in, and seemingly with no angle to work with, Palmer tried an audacious finish through a sliver of grass between Alisson and the near post. He found it, but found the far post, too, which was not quite kind enough to deflect the ball in.

“Cole is that kind of player that he can do things no one expects,” Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca said later. “When he has the ball I expect anything because he can do anything."

Cole Palmer ended his long wait for a goal with a confident penalty

Action Images via Reuters

And so instead, it was in that familiar pose, stood over a football from 12 yards, that Palmer found himself and still without having seen ball find net off his own being in getting on for four months.

Exactly halfway through that run, he had been presented with the same chance, only for Leicester’s Mads Hermansen to pull off a fairly routine save. It was the first penalty miss of Palmer’s senior career.

So not quite the foregone conclusion and even less so in the split second when you saw Alisson dive the right way. Palmer’s effort was too good, though, for the Brazilian to keep out. So visibly pleased, and probably relieved, were his Chelsea team-mates that even Roberto Sanchez ran from the opposite goal to join the celebrations.

With Palmer back on the scoresheet, there is a feeling that the pieces of the Chelsea team that was so good in the first half of the season are clicking back into place just in time to keep their Champions League hopes alive.

Nicolas Jackson is scoring again after his own dry spell. Noni Madueke is fit and flying, even playing in an unfamiliar role on the left flank. That is allowing Pedro Neto, finally, to play with regularity in his best position on the right. Most crucially of all, Romeo Lavia is available and dominating in midfield.

“You can see that we are better team with Romeo,” Maresca said, after the Belgian’s superb display. Chelsea are only at their very best, though, when Palmer is, too.