Cole Palmer Shines in Chelsea's Thrilling Win Over Fulham
Cole Palmer needed only half a minute to announce that last season’s frustrations are over and Xabi Alonso’s Chelsea reign has truly begun.
Thirty-one seconds into Monday Night Football at Craven Cottage, Palmer took one touch, lifted his head and slid Joao Pedro through. One pass, one finish, and Chelsea’s new front three were off and running in a 3-2 derby win that felt breathless, brilliant and borderline reckless.
By the end, all three of Palmer, Joao Pedro and debutant Morgan Rogers had scored. All three had tortured Fulham. And all three looked like they’d been playing together for years.
Palmer back in full colour
This was the Cole Palmer Chelsea thought they were getting. Not the drained, overworked version who faded last season. The 22-year-old, finally clear of injury and spared England duty at the World Cup, played with a swagger that lit up west London.
He created the opener with that early slide-rule ball for Joao Pedro, then killed Fulham after the break with a cool, low finish for Chelsea’s third. In between, he knitted attacks together, drifted into pockets, and played as if the pitch belonged to him.
Asked on Sky Sports afterwards how ready he is for the new season, his reply was sharp and simple: “Did you not watch the game?” The performance backed up the line.
Rogers, Chelsea’s record signing, matched the tone. On his Premier League debut for the club, he timed a late run to perfection to meet Maxence Lacroix’s cross for 2-1 just before half-time, then rose to flick on a long ball in the build-up to Palmer’s goal.
Joao Pedro, left out of Brazil’s World Cup squad and clearly stung by it, buzzed between the lines and finished his chance inside the opening minute with the cold certainty of a striker who expects to score.
Every time Chelsea broke, Fulham looked terrified.
Sanchez turns a stroll into a scrap
This should have been routine. With Moises Caicedo missing, Chelsea were still cruising at 3-1, their front three running riot and Alonso’s first game heading for a statement win.
Then Robert Sanchez intervened.
The goalkeeper, whose status as Chelsea’s No 1 has been questioned for months, endured the kind of night that keeps keepers awake. First, midway through the opening half, Josh King drove in a fierce but saveable shot at his near post. Sanchez got down but not well enough; the ball squirmed through and Fulham were level at 1-1.
Chelsea simply went back up the gears. Rogers struck before the break, Palmer after it, and at 3-1 the away end settled in for a comfortable finale.
Sanchez had other ideas. On 54 minutes he failed to hold a shot from Timothy Castagne, spilling it straight into the path of summer signing Goncalo Garcia. The debutant could hardly miss. Suddenly it was 3-2, Craven Cottage was bouncing and Chelsea, dominant for so long, were hanging on to a game they had controlled.
Alonso refused to turn on his goalkeeper in public. “It’s not about talking about individuals, their situations. It’s about understanding what it takes,” he told Sky Sports. “For sure, the first goal we can do better than that. But it’s a process. It’s day one. And normally it’s easier to learn with three points.”
He will know privately that Chelsea cannot carry this kind of volatility from their last line of defence.
Arbeloa’s Fulham show their hand
If this was the first glimpse of Alvaro Arbeloa’s Fulham, it was anything but cautious.
They pressed high. They committed bodies forward. They went toe-to-toe with Chelsea’s pace and quality and refused to step back, even when being sliced open on the counter.
All three Chelsea goals came from Fulham being far too open. Lacroix’s long header from his own half for the first carved straight through midfield. For the second, Rogers ghosted in at the back post completely unmarked to bury Lacroix’s cross. For the third, Calvin Bassey charged out of the line and was beaten to a flick-on by Rogers, leaving Joao Pedro and Palmer to do the rest.
Arbeloa didn’t flinch from the approach. “It’s a new project. Time is something we coaches don’t have. But if we continue to play in that way, we’re going to win a lot of games,” he said. “This is the way I want to play. And we’re going to play this way no matter who is in front of us.”
The attacking intent nearly paid off. Garcia’s goal dragged them back into it, King had already beaten Sanchez once, and late on came the moment that could have rewritten the story.
With Sanchez stranded in no man’s land, Antonee Robinson had the chance to lift the ball into an empty net. The chip was horribly miscued and drifted well wide. Craven Cottage groaned. Chelsea breathed again.
On this evidence, Fulham will be fun, wild and exhausting. They will score plenty. They will also need to tighten up quickly if those performances are going to translate into points.
Noise, needle and a new Chelsea
The night wasn’t short on edge. When Enzo Fernandez came on for Romeo Lavia in the 65th minute, the World Cup winner was met by a wall of boos, Fulham fans still angry at his role in Argentina’s bad-tempered clash with England. Every touch was jeered. Every misstep cheered.
Chelsea had their own scare when Palmer, after gesturing to the bench that he needed to come off and pulling up mid-dribble, was replaced by Estevao with eight minutes to go. For a player who has just reminded the league of his importance, any fitness concern will be watched closely.
By then, though, the damage to Fulham was done. Chelsea’s front three had ripped through them, the away fans were singing Alonso’s name, and the new head coach had his first win in English football.
It was messy at the back, electric up front and utterly gripping. If this is what Alonso’s Chelsea are going to look like, how long before they turn the chaos into something more ruthless?
