Harvey Downes | OPTA: Cole Palmer – Staking His Claim For The Plane

FOLLOWING the summer departure of Harry Kane, it was hard to imagine another player keeping pace with the freakish scoring exploits of Erling Haaland. Mohamed Salah? Ollie Watkins? Possibly, or just a straight run to consecutive Golden Boots for the Norwegian.

Enter Cole Palmer, one of the few shining lights in yet another underwhelming/inconsistent season (up to now) for the Blues.

In and amongst the transfer chaos that has ensued at the Bridge since the arrival of Todd Boehly, the summer acquisition of Cole Palmer could be described somewhat as a masterstroke. The type of signing you can build your entire squad around. However, very few people would have predicted just how big an impact he would have.

 

THE NUMBERS

Palmer currently sits top of the Premier League goalscoring charts, level with Erling Haaland (20 goals each), following a run of 10 goals in his last five games. On Monday night he became just the second Chelsea player to score a hat-trick in consecutive Premier League games at Stamford Bridge, after Didier Drogba in May/August 2010 and the first player to score four goals in a league match for the Blues since Frank Lampard against Aston Villa in March 2010.

But his goalscoring exploits don’t stop there. His perfect first half hat-trick against Everton saw him become the first Chelsea player to score in seven consecutive Premier League appearances at Stamford Bridge, a record that was previously held jointly by Eidur Gudjohnsen and Didier Drogba. His fourth goal of the evening saw him become the first player to reach 20 goals in a Premier League season while aged 21 or under since Harry Kane in 2014-15.

In terms of hitting the ground running, only Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink in 2000-01 has been involved in (32) and scored (23) more goals in a debut Premier League season for Chelsea than Palmer (29 – 20 goals, 9 assists).

Most Goal Involvements In A Player’s Debut Premier League Season For Chelsea
Player	Season	Goals	Assists	Goals+Assists
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink	2000/2001	23	9	32
Cole Palmer	2023/2024	20	9	29
Diego Costa	2014/2015	20	3	23
Cesc Fàbregas	2014/2015	3	18	21
Eden Hazard	2012/2013	9	11	20

Coached from the school of Guardiola, Palmer had already shown glimpses of his talent in the limited minutes he received at City, netting against Arsenal (Community Shield) and Sevilla (UEFA Super Cup) this season before his switch to Stamford Bridge.

Having played the majority of his minutes out wide for City, Pochettino has deployed Palmer in a freer role where he can influence games from central areas. Shades of the Argentinian’s link up with a young Dele Alli at Spurs.

In 2023-24, Palmer has either scored or assisted 47.5% of Chelsea’s Premier League goals (29/61), the highest share of any player for their team.          

Premier League 2023-24
Team	Team Goals	Player	Goals	Assists	Goals+Assists	% Involvement
Chelsea	61	Cole Palmer	20	9	29	47.5%
Aston Villa	68	Ollie Watkins	19	10	29	42.6%
Bournemouth	47	Dominic Solanke	17	3	20	42.6%
West Ham United	52	Jarrod Bowen	15	5	20	38.5%
Wolverhampton Wanderers	46	Matheus Cunha	11	6	17	37.0%

It’s not just been the quantity of Palmer’s goal contributions but also the timing of them. None more so than his equalising (99:19) and winning (100:41) goals against Man Utd at the start of the month. In fact, 15 of his 20 league goals this season have either drawn Chelsea level (4) or put them one goal in the lead (11), netting six winners (the joint-most in the division) and opening the scoring on seven occasions (only Dominic Solanke has more, 8).

Overall, his goals have been worth 13 points to Chelsea, with only Dominic Solanke (15) and Ollie Watkins (14) winning more points for their sides through their goals.

Premier League 2023-24
Rank	Player	Team	Goals	Points Won
1	Dominic Solanke	Bournemouth	17	15
2	Ollie Watkins	Aston Villa	19	14
3	Cole Palmer	Chelsea	20	13
4	Son Heung-Min	Tottenham Hotspur	15	12
5	Scott McTominay	Manchester United	7	12

 

COMPOSURE FROM THE SPOT

In the Premier League, Cole Palmer has converted all nine penalties he has taken this season for Chelsea, with only Yaya Touré (11/11) posting a better 100% conversion rate from the spot in the competition’s history. In fact, only five players have reached double figures for penalty goals in a single Premier League campaign, with one of those being Chelsea’s Frank Lampard in 2009-10 (10). The record from the spot remains Andrew Johnson’s haul of 11 for Crystal Palace in 2004-05.

Palmer has made it almost impossible for Gareth Southgate to ignore him. With England losing more penalty shootouts at major international tournaments (EUROs/World Cup) than any other nation, and the demons from EURO 2020 still looming large, Palmer’s composure from the spot must stand him in good stead to make the squad for EURO 2024.

EPL TOP GOALSCORER 2023/24

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