Chelsea’s Cole Palmer, left, shoots to attain from the penalty spot throughout the English Premier League soccer match between Chelsea and Fulham at Stamford Bridge stadium in London, on January 13, 2024.
| Picture Credit score: AP
Cole Palmer made up for his misses in midweek by scoring a penalty to provide Chelsea a 1-0 win over Fulham on Saturday for a 3rd straight Premier League victory.
Palmer despatched Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Leno the improper means from the spot in first-half stoppage time after Raheem Sterling had been tripped within the space.
It was the 21-year-old Palmer’s ninth league purpose of the season and fifth from the penalty spot, as the previous Manchester Metropolis participant has emerged as essentially the most profitable of Chelsea’s many costly offseason signings.
And it got here after Palmer was responsible of quite a few wasted possibilities on Tuesday — together with a obvious miss from shut vary — when Chelsea misplaced 1-0 to second-tier Middlesbrough within the first leg of the League Cup semifinals.
“After the (Middlesbrough) recreation I used to be disenchanted, like anybody’s going to be lacking that many possibilities and costing the workforce the sport,” Palmer advised broadcaster TNT. “Folks know you might have these video games, so simply needed to try to put it behind me.”
Chelsea has gained three straight league video games for the primary time beneath supervisor Mauricio Pochettino and prolonged its league profitable streak at residence to 4 matches — its greatest run at Stamford Bridge in 3 1/2 years. This newest win lifted the Blues provisionally above Manchester United and Newcastle into eighth place.
One other constructive for Chelsea was seeing defender Ben Chilwell again for the primary time since September following a prolonged damage layoff.
“Been some time, so simply joyful to be again,” Chilwell mentioned.
Nevertheless, Chelsea could have been lucky to not go a person down when Malo Gusto escaped with only a yellow card for a studs-up problem on Willian within the first half.
Fulham was coming off a 2-1 residence win over Arsenal in its final league recreation however has struggled on the street all season. The guests had few high quality possibilities at Stamford Bridge however Chelsea wanted goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic to disclaim striker Raul Jimenez from scoring an equalizer within the 73rd.
