Enzo Maresca has tried to rubbish claims that Chelsea are not the same prospect without Cole Palmer. But it’s a difficult statement to substantiate. The numbers are tough to hide from.
And the fact he was rushed back from a groin problem to play against Manchester United at the weekend, before being forced to withdraw after 21 minutes is further proof. Even half fit, Palmer's inclusion was deemed a risk worth taking.
Before Maresca took over at Chelsea last season, Mauricio Pochettino tried to issue a similar defence. Pochettino challenged his squad to prove they are not "Cole Palmer FC" ahead of a midweek meeting with Arsenal, which Palmer missed due to illness. They lost that game 5-0.
Palmer has been Chelsea's main source of goal threat and creativity since joining from Manchester City in September 2023. The move has proved to be exceptionally shrewd business, bought for £42.5m - a snippet of his worth now. His 58 goal contributions (38G, 20A) in 98 Premier League appearances is a very tidy return indeed.
To underline his importance, despite suffering a dip in form, his goal contributions since the start of last season (24) have earned as many points (18) as Erling Haaland has won for Manchester City in the same period. He's three behind the total Alexander Isak banked for Newcastle (21).
Put simply: Chelsea create less, score less, and win fewer games without him.
"We need him, no doubt," Maresca told Sky Sports last week. "With Cole we are a better team. But when Cole is not available we need to find solutions and ways to win games. We did it against West Ham and Fulham. We were close against Brentford."
To an extent, he's right. Chelsea have scored as many goals as Arsenal and Tottenham, and one fewer than the league's top scorers Liverpool this term. But open-play threat has suffered without Palmer to knit things together. The Blues don't tally nearly as well if you remove set-piece conversion, which serves to mask a broader issue: Chelsea lack imagination.
Solutions are not so easy to come by either. Maresca is facing the biggest juggling act of his managerial career as he attempts to navigate domestic duties while fighting in Europe's top-tier competition for the first time. It's new territory. And leaves little time for training ground strategising between games.
Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson blasted Maresca's game management after goalkeeper Robert Sanchez was foolishly sent off at Old Trafford on Saturday. The withdrawal of Pedro Neto drew particular criticism.
"I don't know what the manager is thinking," Merson said. "The one player you do not take off that pitch is Neto because his pace means two defenders have to stay back. To bring him off, I couldn't catch my breath."
The Sanchez incident is of course an anomaly but speaks to a manager who is showing questionable decision-making in pressure moments. Palmer had to come off 15 minutes later, leaving Chelsea totally devoid of threat.
Fundamental to this argument is the debate over Palmer's centrality to Chelsea's cause. Is it too simple to suggest stopping Palmer completely stifles Chelsea's options from open play?
Or, has Maresca actually inherited a problem from Pochettino's reign, where an overreliance on Palmer's output meant Chelsea had no plan B? The Italian can at least point to his side's recent set-piece prowess as a different dimension to Chelsea teams of old.
Palmer is now man-marked in most games. He's fouled more too. His solution has been to take up positions right across the front line as Chelsea's nominal No 10, encouraged to drift in search of space to attack.
This season has seen another evolution, though, as Chelsea's revolving door policy necessitates another adaption to different personnel. Palmer has only managed 145 minutes in the league so far but is already showing positional variation, marooned wide left.
Both Noni Madueke and Nicolas Jackson were strong allies of Palmer. The connections were reciprocal - before both left for Arsenal and Bayern Munich respectively this summer. Now Palmer has got an entirely new support cast to entertain and new relationships to build.
And it's not just one new face, it's six.
With little stability to ground him it's no wonder form has trailed off. That's Maresca's obligation to solve.
Coupled with that is an obvious hangover from Chelsea's summer exploits in the Club World Cup and fatigue from playing 55 games for club and country last season, while having to shoulder the creative burden in many.
Perhaps this is less a Palmer problem than a collective Chelsea problem. The 23-year-old has been doing more than his bit for the club for two seasons now, it's about time he gets some proper help.
