Where on earth would Chelsea be without Cole Palmer? Once again on Monday night, their £42.5 million ($52m) summer signing from Manchester City proved to be the difference against Newcastle, helping himself to his 18th and 19th Premier League goal contributions of the season in a much-needed 3-2 victory.
The Blues got off to a dream start when Jackson’s clever flick sent Palmer’s low shot past the scrambling Martin Dubravka inside six minutes. But after squandering a few chances to cushion their advantage, they were made to pay. A comedy of errors eventually resulted in Alexander Isak having enough space on the edge of the box to curl home an exquisite equaliser.
Fortunately for Chelsea, though, Palmer had a bit of magic up his sleeve in what was shaping up to be a fairly even second half. Just before the hour mark, he picked up Enzo Fernandez’s pass on the edge of the box, with his perfect first touch affording him enough room to smash the ball through Sven Botman’s legs and into the back of the net.
With Newcastle knocking on the door, substitute Mykhailo Mudryk then made sure of the victory, dancing through the Magpies backline and past Dubravka before rolling it home. With the result assured, the Blues’ faithful burst into a spontaneous rendition of Bob Marley’s classic Three Little Birds, only for Jacob Murphy’s late screamer to add a little more tension to proceedings.
There’s still plenty of questions for Mauricio Pochettino to answer of course, but after over a year of slim pickings, this performance will go some way to relieving the negativity that has infested Stamford Bridge this season.
