Enzo Maresca’s concern that Chelsea lack leaders may have foundation but one of his players is consistently setting the right tone. This was another match-winning display from Cole Palmer, his seventh goal of the season ensuring the broader sense of progress in these parts remains strong, and it brought the latest frustration for a Newcastle side now winless in five top-flight games.
Chelsea may lack the level of control that would satisfy their hyperactive head coach but they do have Palmer, who is unplayable at his best and who also contributed brilliantly to Nicolas Jackson’s opener. They needed this response to the narrow defeat at Anfield and, despite riding their luck on occasion, deserved to climb a point behind Aston Villa.
The gap would probably be wider if Alexander Isak, having rounded Robert Sánchez 15 minutes from time, had squared for Joelinton or arranged his feet to convert from a tight angle. Instead he let the chance slip away and Eddie Howe’s manifest exasperation spoke of his team’s need to get back on track. It was one of few clear chances for the visitors, most of their openings coming when Chelsea’s intensity and composure went awry.
That still happens too often but Chelsea will always have a chance of picking opponents off as long as Palmer is in view. He beat Nick Pope within four minutes of kick-off, scuffing in via the far post after fine work by Jackson, but the muted nature of his celebration conveyed a fear VAR would spoil the fun. Indeed it did, replays showing Palmer had strayed a mite offside, but a fast start would yield legitimate reward soon enough.
While Jackson’s finish, converted crisply on the run, was simple enough it was worth dwelling on a breathtaking buildup. Palmer’s whipped pass from inside the Chelsea half took Tino Livramento completely out of the picture and sent Pedro Neto, who snicked the ball away from a sliding Fabian Schär, in full flight down the left. The resulting tee-up was perfect, the overall impression exhilarating.
“The reason people come to the stadium is to see players like him,” Maresca said of Palmer. “They pay to see that kind of player.” He did not shy away from comparing the 22-year-old to Gianfranco Zola, who had lavished praise on one of his successors donning Chelsea’s creative mantle earlier in the day, saying: “They are quite similar in terms of quality.”
Palmer would soon show that again, but first Chelsea had to suffer the inconvenience of an equaliser that Newcastle had signposted. Anthony Gordon, their closest Palmer analogue, was missing with a groin injury that Howe said will require a scan but Isak and Harvey Barnes were causing flutters. When the latter, taking possession after a meticulously constructed move that picked through Chelsea’s midfield, found Lewis Hall on the overlap the position invited a lurking centre-forward to scent blood. Hall, on his old stomping ground, delivered perfectly and Isak bundled in at waist height. The goal, Newcastle’s first from open play since 21 September, was subjected to its own VAR review but survived.
“I felt the momentum was with us,” Howe said, although Pope had to save spectacularly when the sparky Neto unloaded a shot which took a deflection. By the end of the first period Maresca was sufficiently exasperated to take his annoyance at refereeing decisions, and perhaps the fact Chelsea’s ideas were running dry, out on his seat; 75 seconds after the interval he was leaping out of it as Palmer ensured all was forgotten.
Isak failed to hold the ball up on halfway and a prod from Roméo Lavia was enough to send his teammate scampering into the chasm between midfield and defence. There is always the sense Palmer will deliver in these situations and he justified it with a firm, low finish from 15 yards. Pope will regret being beaten at his near post despite the shot’s crispness.
Chelsea briefly looked like running away with it, Neto leaping high but striking an upright. They can be explosive but the corollary appears to be an inability to slow down, to put method before mayhem. “I was shouting all the game: ‘Calm, calm, calm, make passes,’” said Maresca, who is no model of serenity himself. “There are games, especially today, where if you do a basketball game they’ll destroy you.”
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Isak should have proved the point during a scratchy spell in which Newcastle found a second wind. The pass to an open Joelinton was on from near the byline but he allowed Levi Colwill to rescue the situation, Howe later cutting a more conciliatory figure than the one that cursed by the side. “Alex is moving at 100 miles per hour and you’ve got to make split-second decisions,” he said.
Palmer got the big calls right, and therein lay the difference. “On the ball we were unbelievable in some moments,” Maresca said. Chelsea and their star turn continue to grow in credibility.
