Cole Palmer Returns to Form as Chelsea Sweat Over Robert Sanchez Goalkeeper Crisis

Cole Palmer walked into his post-match interview and was asked, straight out, whether he was ready for the season ahead. He did not miss a beat. “Did you not watch the game?” he said, before breaking into a smile. “I’m only joking, I’m ready.”

It was a fair question and a fair answer. Palmer had just scored and set up another as Chelsea beat Fulham 3-2 in their Premier League opener at Craven Cottage, the kind of performance that reminded everyone in west London why he became one of the league’s most dangerous attackers before injuries took over his last campaign. Joao Pedro and Morgan Rogers scored the other two, with Josh King and Gonzalo Garcia replying for Fulham, but it was Palmer’s night.

“I rested, I recharged, and I’m hungry”

Speaking to Sky Sports after the game, Palmer explained what had gone into getting back to that level. “It was a difficult season with injuries and whatnot but through the summer and since I’ve been back I’ve worked extra hard,” he said. “Obviously with the injuries I’ve had to try and prevent them and work extra hard day in, day out. I know the talent I’ve got so I can put in performances like that.”

He went further, describing a summer that changed his mindset heading into the new season. “Normally I’m not an emotional person, the people who know me know I’m not usually bothered about things in life, but over the summer I rested, I recharged and yeah I’m ready and I’m hungry,” Palmer said.

That summer included being left out of England’s World Cup squad by Thomas Tuchel, a decision that stung at the time but one Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville now believes could work in Palmer’s favour. “Maybe it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to Cole Palmer, because maybe his career is just drifting a little bit and he gets a massive kick up the backside,” Neville said. “Sometimes my dad used to say to me, you need a reminder in life that you’ve got to retain that hunger every single minute of every single day.

“A point midway through my career, where I dropped off for about a year and a half and all of a sudden, you just get a reality check and you realise things don’t come easy, and you’ve got to maintain that standard.”

Alonso: “The old Cole Palmer”

Chelsea head coach Xabi Alonso was just as pleased with what he saw. “That tonight was the old Cole Palmer, that we were used to seeing complete years ago, a year or so ago,” Alonso said. “And he is unbelievable to watch. That is the best performance I’ve seen all weekend. It makes you smile every time you watch someone like that, and he’s a brilliant player.”

Palmer’s performance came alongside a broader point Sky Sports’ pundits wanted to make about Chelsea’s attack as a whole. Jamie Carragher singled out the front three built around Palmer, Joao Pedro and new signing Morgan Rogers. “On paper, that front three is sensational. It really is. It looked it in the game,” Carragher said. “I think Joao Pedro is fantastic. Rogers’ first game, what a start. But when you think of him, Palmer and Pedro, that’s as good as anything in the Premier League right now.”

Neville put a figure on what Palmer’s return to form is worth to the club. “If you talk about Palmer getting back to his best you’ve got a £120m-£125m player there,” Neville said. “Rogers getting a goal. Those two being electric with Joao Pedro up front. The front three were brilliant tonight. One of the best things I’ve seen this weekend.”

“Impossible” to win the league with Sanchez in goal

The celebration of Chelsea’s attack came with a warning attached. Goalkeeper Robert Sanchez played a part in both Fulham goals, and Carragher used the win to make a blunt argument about what stands between Chelsea and a genuine title challenge.

“Chelsea will never win the league with Sanchez in goal. Impossible,” Carragher said. “And you’d think of the teams who’ve won the title. Last three teams who won the title have all changed the goalkeeper. Pep Guardiola bringing in Ederson. Alisson comes in for Liverpool. Arsenal don’t win the league if they have Aaron Ramsdale in goal, not David Raya. Impossible. So, one of the biggest reasons why Arsenal won the league, actually, was Raya, they wouldn’t have won the league without them. You can go back to history.”

Neville agreed, treating the goalkeeper question as a test of Alonso’s willingness to make hard calls in his first months in charge. “Alonso’s been brought in as the manager of the football club, not as the coach,” Neville said. “And when you’re managing a football club, and I know from the manager that I played under, you have to make some pretty brutal and ruthless decisions. They’re strengthening every single position, in the forward areas, they brought brilliant players in, experience in midfield, they’ve got defenders that have come in. You cannot take a chance with goalkeeper.

“I said before, it’s the most difficult position on the pitch. It’s the one that carries the most scrutiny. It’s the one that if you have got a goalkeeper that’s making mistakes and he’s anxious, it will undermine everything that you’re trying to do.

“And I think in the next seven or eight days, Alonso may have to just make a decision that he needs to bring in an experienced goalkeeper, because his job is to be successful for Chelsea. It may be that he sticks with Robert Sanchez, but I think he has to protect himself.”

Two problems, one weekend

Chelsea leave Craven Cottage with three points and a reminder of what their front three can produce when Palmer plays like this. They also leave with a question hanging over the position behind that attack, one Neville and Carragher believe cannot be ignored for long if Alonso wants his side competing at the top of the table.

For Palmer, the personal story is simpler. A difficult, injury-hit campaign and a World Cup snub are behind him, and the version of him that turned up at Fulham looked like the player Chelsea signed him to be. Whether that form holds is the next question. For now, he answered the only one that was asked of him.