As he passed the Matthew Harding Stand on Chelsea’s lap of appreciation following a 4-2 win over Brighton and Hove Albion, Cole Palmer tucked his well-earned match ball under the front of his shirt to free his hands and return the applause.
His intent may have been practical, but the image it created was indelible: a 22-year-old superstar, pregnant with genius?
Many in the Premier League would contend that particular birth has been and gone. Brighton coach Fabian Hurzeler admitted in his post-match press conference that after six matches of a season that has already seen his team meet Manchester United and Arsenal, Palmer is the best individual player they have faced.
“They had one amazing player that punished every mistake we made,” Hurzeler said of Palmer. “He punished every individual mistake. You can’t stop him in one-against-one situations. We have to defend against him as a team.”
Palmer made Premier League history against Brighton, becoming the first player to score four first-half goals. There was a tap-in, a typically nerveless penalty, a sublime free-kick and whipped near-post finish. He had another goal ruled out for a correct but close offside and hit the post.
The boy is a genius. 💫#CFC | #CHEBHA pic.twitter.com/pIuZIiKKll
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) September 28, 2024
All of the things happened between the 19th minute and the 41st minute, only the miss was shocking.
“I said to Cole that he scored four goals, but he could have scored two or three more,” Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca said with a smile in his post-match press conference. “It’s good that he continues to be hungry, ambitious.”
Maresca went on to explain why he never worries about Palmer letting all of his rapidly growing fame, adulation and list of individual accolades go to his head.
“I know Cole from many years ago, I had him for one entire season with the under-23s at Manchester City,” the Italian said.
“The best thing he has is that in the way he is today as a boy, he was three or four years ago. So goals, assists, best player of the Premier League… this doesn’t change who he is. He’s a simple guy, a humble guy, and this for me is the most important thing.”
4 – Cole Palmer is the first player in Premier League history to score four goals before half-time in a single match. Cold. #CHEBHA pic.twitter.com/7dNiM1Ndd7
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) September 28, 2024
One part of Maresca’s answer stuck in the mind: “best player of the Premier League”. In context, it seemed more like a passing comment to underline the extent of Palmer’s grounded nature than a bullish claim about his place at the top of the superstar hierarchy, but there is a growing appetite to make a sincere argument on his behalf.
Best player debates in football are often tedious, not least because when most people say those two words they really mean best attacking player. Rodri lost one match in 18 months for club and country before rupturing his ACL against Arsenal; how do you compare the value of midfield controllers and defensive destroyers with those who deal in the currency of goals and assists?
Erling Haaland has been the logical choice for best attacking player in the league virtually ever since arriving at Manchester City in the summer of 2022, and a ridiculous 10 goals in his first six Premier League matches of 2024-25 suggests he has no intention of surrendering that particular mantle anytime soon.
The only attacker whose output merits serious comparison with the Norwegian phenomenon is Palmer. His six goals and four assists in 2024-25 give him the same number of direct goal involvements as Haaland (10) and since the beginning of last season he is one ahead, with a significant gap to the best of the rest:
In such rarefied air of attacking brilliance, personal preference tends to be the final differentiator. Haaland is the most relentless, physically overwhelming pure goalscorer of his generation, almost entirely single-minded in his focus on finishing moves. Palmer scores less — considerably so from open play last season — but creates much more, making him a natural hub through which Chelsea’s entire attack flows.
This was the story of much of the second half at Stamford Bridge; with four goals in the bag Palmer dropped deeper into midfield, carving through Brighton’s high defensive line with perfectly weighted passes rather than the incisive runs that underpinned his first-half goal rush. He might have added three assists to his tally if Nicolas Jackson had not misplaced the composure in front of goal that he had shown against West Ham.
But it is these spectacular scoring bursts that do more than anything else to alert the rest of the Premier League and football supporters at large to Palmer’s dominance. In a little more than a year as a Chelsea starter this is his third match ball and, incredibly, it might not even be his most impressive four-goal haul in a game (sorry, Everton).
43 – Since the start of 2023-24, Cole Palmer has been directly involved in 43 @premierleague goals (28 goals, 15 assists), more than any other player. Sensation. pic.twitter.com/jT68CaCTSQ
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) September 28, 2024
Palmer has as many Premier League hat-tricks as Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard and Jimmy Floyd-Hasselbaink. His 10th successful penalty kick against Brighton — converted after grinning and nodding at Bart Verbruggen’s attempts to put him off — moves him to within one of Yaya Toure, the man who boasts the most Premier League penalties scored without a miss (11).
If the raw numbers are not enough to convince that Palmer has an increasingly credible claim to be considered the Premier League’s best attacker, the illustrious statistical company he keeps should be. The heralded achievements of bona fide legends are being matched and surpassed by a man with fewer than 60 league appearances to his name, and who does not turn 23 until May.
He will be 31 when his Chelsea contract expires. Palmer has a superstar trajectory, a long runway and, with a bit of luck, a real chance to become the benchmark for all other Premier League attackers.
(Charlotte Wilson/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)
