‘Intelligent’ Chelsea player named in Premier League Team of the Week even after Fulham defeat

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The dust is now settling on Chelsea’s Boxing Day defeat to Fulham, where the team delivered one of their poorest league performances of the season.

Chelsea suffered a 2-1 home loss against rivals Fulham in the Premier League. As a result, they’ve now dropped down to third in the league table behind Arsenal.

Chelsea defender Levi Colwill reiterated they’re not in a title race after slipping up this week at home to Fulham.

It may be a good thing that the Blues don’t have long before they play again on Monday night away to 19th-placed Ipswich Town.

Overall, Enzo Maresca should still be pleased with how things have gone in the first half of the season. Can they now back it up in the second half in 2025?

• READ MORE: Arsenal star Declan Rice admits Chelsea have ‘shocked everyone’ and says what they’ve been ‘amazing’ at this season

Cole Palmer included in Team of the Week

Chelsea may have blown a lead in the defeat to neighbours Fulham, but Cole Palmer was one of the rare shining lights.

Yet again, Palmer scored a fabulous goal in the Premier League, his 12th of the season. The 22-year-old Blues attacker effortlessly tucked in a low finish after dribbling away from a couple of Fulham players.

WhoScored’s Premier League Team of the Week for the latest round of fixtures does include the Chelsea talisman.

Palmer must be disappointed that he couldn’t guide the Blues to any points in midweek. His performance was dazzling in spells against Fulham, especially in the first half.

Palmer broke another Chelsea record by scoring his 26th Premier League goal of the calendar year, eclipsing Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (25) in the process.

Dimitar Berbatov called Chelsea’s Palmer an “intelligent” player and he seems like he does something special every single time he steps on the football pitch.

Do Chelsea need to be careful with Cole Palmer?

Along with Moises Caicedo, Palmer is the only Chelsea player to start every single league match so far this season. Therefore, should Maresca be more willing to substitute him and allow for some rest?

Jason Cundy has raised the potential concern about Palmer’s minutes after his 90 minutes versus Fulham.

Cundy told talkSPORT: “We’ve just seen Bukayo Saka pick up an injury. The boy plays every single week. I think we need to be very careful over this Christmas period. What we don’t want is to be keeping Cole Palmer on every game. I think there is a moment actually where you could add some fresh legs. I don’t think it’s a slight on Cole, everyone knows how brilliant he is.”

In fairness, Palmer’s workload is being managed to an extent after he was completely left out of the squad for the Conference League group phase. He didn’t play in the Carabao Cup before the team’s exit, too.

If Chelsea are winning handsomely in any league game, we’d advocate for resting Palmer. But it’s very rare in this competitive league, so we can understand leaving the match-winner on in most matches.