Let’s go back to April last year and the build-up to when Chelsea were about to play Arsenal. Mauricio Pochettino was head coach and the team were facing the prospect of taking on their London rivals without their talisman, Cole Palmer, due to illness.
“It’s a good challenge for the team-mates,” Pochettino said. “If I am a team-mate of Cole Palmer in his position or a similar position, I am going to be motivated to go there and show this is Chelsea Football Club, not Cole Palmer Football Club.” Pochettino’s attempts at motivating the group did not work. Chelsea were thrashed 5-0 at the Emirates and they very much continued to be referred to as ‘Cole Palmer FC’.
Even though he suffered a dip in form under Pochettino’s successor, Enzo Maresca, earlier this year, the tag pretty much remained last season as well. Palmer was the one who provided the inspiration to help Chelsea win the Conference League final and Club World Cup final.
But with another match against Arsenal coming up on Sunday, Chelsea now have a lot more belief they can win without Palmer than they did 19 months ago.
They have proved this to themselves for several weeks. The manner of their 3-0 Champions League victory over Barcelona on Tuesday simply provided an exclamation mark to what they have been doing.
Maresca’s side have played without Palmer for 13 matches, mostly due to a groin injury. The chances of him returning against Barcelona were ruled out last week due to fracturing the little toe on his left foot.
If you told Chelsea fans before the campaign began, let alone Maresca, that Palmer would miss so many games in succession, a stronger term than ‘unlucky for some’ would have probably been uttered.
But just look at the simple table below of their record in all competitions without him since he had to be substituted at Manchester United in September. It makes pretty impressive reading. One of the two defeats comes with the caveat that Chelsea were reduced to 10 men against Brighton & Hove Albion when leading 1-0.
What really catches your eye is just how prolific they have been in finding the net 30 times.
Palmer has finished as Chelsea’s top scorer in the two seasons he has completed at Stamford Bridge so far, getting 25 goals in 2023-24 and 18 in 2024-25. Maresca will be delighted that Liam Delap’s neat finish to make it 3-0 against Barcelona ensured there have now been 16 different scorers (including own goals) in Palmer’s absence over the past two months. They are listed below.
Estevao stands out here, just as his performance did against Barcelona. Five goals is some return. This remarkable young man is not afraid of the big occasion — he relishes it. The 18-year-old generates the same kind of buzz in the crowd that Palmer has sparked since arriving from Manchester City in 2023.
One reporter asked Maresca if Estevao’s goal reminded him of Lionel Messi. After likening it to Estevao’s strike against Chelsea for Palmeiras at the Club World Cup instead, Maresca replied: “Estevao needs to relax, he needs to enjoy, he needs to play football. Him, Lamine (Yamal), they are so young, 18, that if you start to talk about Messi, (Cristiano) Ronaldo, I think it’s too much pressure for young boys like them. They need to enjoy, they need to arrive at the training ground happy.”