Cole Palmer’s technique trick worked 14 of 19 times and nobody knows how he does it

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·17 de fevereiro de 2026

Cole Palmer’s technique trick worked 14 of 19 times and nobody knows how he does it

Cole Palmer is known as a penalty specialist, and has continued his great record this season. But what makes him so good?

People have been putting an asterisk by Cole Palmer’s recent return to form and saying that a lot of the goals and xG he’s generated have come from penalties. It’s true he has 3 in his last 2 games – but his ability from the spot should be celebrated.

Vídeos OneFootball

Cerys Jones of the Athletic took a look at his amazing record in a really interesting piece where she spoke both to penalty specialists and goalkeeper specialists to figure out how Palmer has scored 18 of his 19 Premier League spot kicks.

What makes Palmer’s penalties so special

Cole Palmer smashes in a penalty.

What it seems to boil down to is firstly variation: Palmer has never hit more than three in a row to one spot in the goal.

“Some other takers don’t have that variation… you can start to predict their strike. But with Palmer, that’s very, very difficult,” goalkeeping expert Matt Pyzdrowski said.

There’s also his technique. He has a fast run up, and doesn’t wait for the keeper to move. But he is somehow sending them the wrong way – in 14 of the 19 the keeper has picked wrong. Nobody seems quite sure how he does it.

There’s no stuttering, no hopping, no trickery, just a clean and powerful strike that’s hard to read. And Palmer can change his mind at the last second and still score.