Key to Chelsea’s resurgence in recent weeks has been Cole Palmer, the summer signing from Manchester City whose presence in the team seems to have sparked the whole setup into life.
His elegant movement and passing has added a whole dimension to the side, and Mauricio Pochettino has had to change his plans pretty rapidly to accommodate the attacking midfielder since his breakthrough.
Speaking on the Chelsea official website, Palmer explained how his coach had told him to fit into a new setup against Arsenal which proved very effective at stopping the Gunners dominating the ball, and set up the Blues for a win which they only threw away thanks to mistakes at the back:
“I found out the day before I was going to be playing as a false nine, sort of in the right pocket. I spoke to the manager, he told me what he wanted from me, and I believed I could do it because I’ve played there before. So I just tried to get in the pockets, turn and play well,” Palmer explained.
“We just tried to drop down, bring them high so we could play in behind if they went man-for-man. But we did struggle to play out a bit. We both did, I think we cancelled each other out quite well. It was a good game and we could have come away with three points.”
There will of course be more question marks once Christopher Nkunku returns to fitness, but Palmer is playing so well at the moment that it’s hard to see Pochettino doing anything other than working to get them both in the same team, no matter what the setup.
