When the 2004/24 season started, Cole Palmer was already the new star of the league. The Chelsea midfielder exploded the year before when he was transferred from Manchester City to Chelsea and scored 22 goals in 34 appearances, along with 11 assists. Much was expected of him since his first season was a blast and this year, he basically only played the Premier League as other reserves played in the Conference League. But despite being fresh and playing only once a week, his production failed miserably during the second part of the season. Looking at his current stats, he has scored 14 goals, along with nine assists in 32 appearances until April, which is a pretty nice figure. The problem is, most of those numbers came at the beginning of the season, when he looked like Cristiano Ronaldo, while he is looking more like Rasmus Hojlund now.Maresca to Palmer and Jackson: “You need to score for UCL”His last goal came against Bournemouth on 14th of January, while the last assist happened in March against West Ham. Cole Palmer is scoreless in 1,292 straight minutes so far, and to make things worse, the Blues striker Nicolas Jackson has gone 13 games without a goal. And all that happens in the cruciaal part of the season, when Chelsea needs to secure a place in the Champions League. Speaking ahead of the crucial home game against Everton, Enzo Maresca tried to lower the pressure and said that Palmer’s issues are only psychological.“For sure, it’s mental. I don’t think it’s tactical, I don’t think it’s technical, because Cole is still the same player that scored this season with us – 14 goals in the Premier League in 20 games. Cole is the same one. The style of football we play is the same one. The manager is the same one. The club is the same one. So nothing changes around Cole and Cole doesn’t change. It’s just mentally in this moment. We try always to set up our game to put our best player in a condition to be dangerous. We have done since we started. We are doing that every game” said Maresca.Cole Palmer and the mystery of 79 daysThe Italian continued and wanted to make sure that it’s just a matter of time when we will score.“If you go back game by game, he had at least every game one or two chances. It’s not about how the team is playing. Again, it’s the same one. If you want to see it as the team playing a different way, you’ve seen it that way, but the reality is not that” he said.PREMIER LEAGUE – MATCHDAY 34TuesdayMan.City – Aston Villa 2-1 (1-1)/Silva 7, Nunes 90+4 – Rashford 18 pen/WednesdayArsenal – Crystal Palace 2-2 (2-1)/Kiwior 3, Trossard 42 – Eze 27/Saturday14:30: (1.63) Chelsea (3.80) Everton (5.70)17:00: (1.67) Brighton (4.20) West Ham (5.00)17:00: (1.20) Newcastle (6.75) Ipswich (14.0)17:00: (5.00) Southampton (4.20) Fulham (1.65)17:00: (1.62) Wolverhampton (3.80) Leicester (5.80)SundaySun 16:00: (1.70) Bournemouth (4.20) Man.Utd. (4.70)Sun 18:30: (1.30) Liverpool (5.90) Tottenham (9.00)***odds are subject to change***
