London is Blue Dispatch #039

49 minutes into a cup fixture against Brighton earlier in the season, the ball found Cole Palmer at the edge of the box, with two Brighton defenders swarming in as he shaped to shoot. Just as Jean Paul van Hecke strode forward to block it, Palmer serenely nutmegged him, simultaneously setting up Nicholas Jackson for the game’s only goal. It was Palmer’s first start in a Chelsea shirt and his first assist.

Fast forward to the Burnley game, and Palmer received the ball in the attacking third again. This time, he perfectly nutmegged Vitinho from a few yards out, placing it again in Jackson’s path, only this time, Burnley’s saviour Arijanet Muric somehow getting an outstretched leg to it.

A staggering 26 goal contributions in all competitions cushion those two deftly-executed acts of ingenuity. Palmer came to Chelsea with three senior league starts to his name, barely out of his teens; he now sits two goals behind Heung-Min Son and Alexander Isak, three behind Mohamed Salah. By the end of the Burnley game, his G/A tally had swelled to 28 – one short of matching Mason Mount’s 29 in the 21/22 season. He is nudging perilously close to Juan Mata’s tally of 35 in the 13/14 season, all the more remarkable considering he’s doing it for a side currently in 12^th.

Before the international break and after the 3-2 win over Newcastle, Tim Sherwood, whose career managerial highlights include taking Aston Villa to 19^th and relegating Swindon Town to League Two posed this suggestion to Palmer –

The comment sparked outrage among Chelsea fans, who were understandably incensed at the implication, but the Burnley game marked yet another which could have gone south without his influence. Palmer managed a career high 9 shots vs Burnley. No one else managed more than half. Of 33 shots and 4.2 xG generated, it was his brace that earned a miserly point against ten men. His goal and assist contributions now account for nearly 43% of Chelsea’s goals in the PL. At the very center of a team suffering a grave crisis of confidence and composure, Palmer, facing a keeper who would earn his second MoTM in a row, impudently panenka’d his penalty right down the middle.

While Palmer’s imperviousness to chaos and pressure as well as his meteoric output continue to help, it may be prudent to ask whether it is wise to place the weight of crippling expectations on his slender shoulders. Up next are Manchester United, who sit in the coveted Europa League spot in 6^th, well within reach. In the reverse fixture, a dire game that proved to be arguably the worst performance by far under Mauricio Pochettino, Palmer still managed to get his name on the scoresheet. The boy from Wythenshawe in Manchester will again be centerstage, expected to heap misery on a foe he loathes more than most.

There are at least 11 games left to get to Mata’s mark of 35. Getting to Hazard’s 39 in his last season, however, would certainly lift him to cult status, and more importantly, elevate Chelsea to where they desperately need to be.