After scoring for the second game in a row, Cole Palmer says he is loving life at Chelsea so far and believes things are starting to click for him and the team under Mauricio Pochettino, although explained he owes his boss an apology after one incident in Saturday’s draw with Arsenal.
The summer signing from Manchester City has made a promising start to his Chelsea career, having scored in consecutive Premier League matches either side of the international break, both from the penalty spot, first in the 4-1 win at Burnley and then to open the scoring in the 2-2 draw with Arsenal in our last match.
Despite the Gunners being arguably the Premier League’s form side at the moment, remaining undefeated in the competition this season, we more than matched our opponents at Stamford Bridge, by putting them under pressure and taking the game to them.
That leaves Cole Palmer with mixed feelings when reflecting on the game, being pleased with our performance, but disappointed it didn’t give us all three points after, two Arsenal goals in seven minutes saw them snatch a draw.
‘We were at home in front of our own fans, so we weren’t going to show them too much respect,’ said the 21-year-old. ‘We know that they’re good but we’re good as well. We played well. There are still a lot of areas we can improve in, but we’re going in the right direction. It’s starting to click, as you can see from the results in the past four games, but there’s much more to come and we need to keep going.
‘We’re obviously very disappointed not to get the three points but they’re a very good side, one of the best teams in the league, and we went toe-to-toe with them. I thought we played very well but we could have got so much more. It’s gutting not to get the three points after being 2-0 up.
‘We started very well, so to concede two late goals hurts. We conceded two goals that we could have avoided. There are many things to improve on but there are also positive things. So we just need to build on those, try to push forward and go and kick on for the next game.’
A big part of our strong performance against Arsenal revolved around the partnership of Palmer and Conor Gallagher, playing as a pair of deep forwards, making it difficult for the Gunners defenders to track them when in possession, while putting them under pressure off the ball.
‘I found out the day before I was going to be playing as a false nine, sort of in the right pocket,’ Palmer added. ‘I spoke to the manager, he told me what he wanted from me, and I believed I could do it because I’ve played there before. So I just tried to get in the pockets, turn and play well.
‘We just tried to drop down, bring them high so we could play in behind if they went man-for-man. But we did struggle to play out a bit. We both did, I think we cancelled each other out quite well. It was a good game and we could have come away with three points.’
It was the latest impressive performance from the Blues’ new boy, who confirmed he has been enjoying himself in west London following his switch from Manchester at the end of the summer transfer window.
‘I’m loving it here at Chelsea. Every day is good, even off the pitch with the lads. There’s a good vibe here and everything’s good, so I’m loving it.
‘I came to Chelsea to try to make an impact. I’m happy I’ve done it straight away. Credit to the lads, the lads are all good, helped me settle in and stuff, but I’ve just got to try to improve every day and give more and more.’
Not everything has gone quite so smoothly for Palmer, though, as he admitted he had to apologise to Pochettino after an accident during the Arsenal game. Thankfully, he has already established a good working relationship with the head coach.
‘When they scored their second goal I was getting a drink. I went to throw the bottle away, as you do, but didn’t look. I just saw it loop dead slow and hit the gaffer. I said sorry to him and apologised properly after the game. Hopefully he won’t drop me for that!
‘We get on well. I try to show him every day in training what I can do. Work hard and just try to repay him because he puts a lot of faith in us.’
