Why Chelsea let Cole Palmer play full 90 minutes last night in Premier League win | OneFootball

What’s eating Cole Palmer? That’s the question Chelsea fans are all asking themselves right now.

In the second half of last season, the attacker really slowed down and started to look tired. It turned out he was carrying a groin injury. After trying to manage it through the start of this campaign, where his form continued to suffer, he was eventually given a couple of months off.

Palmer struggling to find his form and Chelsea miss his magic

Cole Palmer and Liam Delap celebrate the attacker’s penalty. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

After that, we were hoping he would be back to his best. But since returning, he’s still looked limited. At first you can write it off to a bit of rust and lack of match fitness, but he’s now played enough games that it’s increasingly hard to blame just a lack of sharpness.

In yesterday’s win over Brentford his frustration was so evident. He can’t do the things he usually wants to do, and as a player who is on the pitch to take risks and make things happen, he ends up being something of a dead weight at times.

Palmer completed 90 minutes for just the fourth time all season yesterday. We were expecting to see him subbed off, but perhaps leaving him on is a way of helping him really hit new levels of match fitness.

He now gets a midweek off as we play Pafos in the Champions League, and will hope that 7 full days between games before we face Crystal Palace next Sunday allow him to get back to full power.

In other news…

Palmer’s lack of form is making Chelsea pretty hard to watch in an attacking sense, and the Blues’ captain Reece James admitted that yesterday’s game was all about getting 3 points in the end.

Joao Pedro was hardly spectacular yesterday, but he did note one thing his team had done really well against Brentford which helped bring them a win.