Ill Palmer 'wanted to be on pitch' as barren run continues

Cole Palmer has gone nine matches without scoring and his last assist was on 1 December

Chelsea's Cole Palmer might have found a new way to fire a blank as he missed a Premier League penalty for the first time in the 1-0 win at home to Leicester City - but the fact he played at all was perhaps equally noteworthy on Sunday.

Going into the match, Palmer's involvement was in doubt after he missed training with a fever but insisted on playing to "help the team".

And the England international was perfectly placed to end his goal drought - standing at eight games going into the match - in the 22nd minute but his well-struck effort was saved by goalkeeper Mads Hermansen.

Previously, Palmer had scored all 12 of his penalty kicks in the Premier League, beating the record for perfect attempts held previously by former Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure.

It was the latest episode in a dip in form since the end of 2024. Last year, he scored 26 times and delivered 13 assists in the Premier League, more than any other player in England's top-flight during that period. He also broke the Chelsea club record for goal involvements in a calendar year.

But having also squandered several big chances in the 4-0 win against Southampton last week, the signs are that his confidence is on the wane.

Palmer has varied his finishes from the penalty spot, but stats show that shooting with his left foot across to his right is his favoured option.

This is likely something that Hermansen will have known and he managed to get across the goal to save the shot despite it being close to the corner.

Former Chelsea goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer told BBC Radio 5 Live: "Cole Palmer's penalty wasn't one from someone with a lot of confidence. He went for power over real placement and the goalkeeper does so, so well. It wasn't his best penalty.

"It's just not happening for Cole Palmer at the moment. The longer it goes on, there is more frustration and there will be more the element of trying to be selfish and making the wrong decisions."

There was a two minute and 24 second wait to take the penalty that can't have helped - as Chelsea and Leicester players argued on the edge of the box - and referee Tim Robinson asked him to re-spot the ball.

Ultimately the penalty miss did not matter for Chelsea as Marc Cucurella popped up with the long-range winner in the 60th minute as they hung on to the win despite a nervy end.

It was also arguably Palmer's worst performance of the season as he was substituted in the 73rd minute, the fourth-earliest he has come off in a match since joining the club.

However, Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca said there was a reason the forward was perhaps not at his very best.

"It's very easy: Cole didn't train yesterday and during the night he didn't feel well," Maresca said.

"The reason why he didn't train yesterday is fever and diarrhoea in the last 48 hours. This morning, he woke up and he asked me, 'I want to be on the pitch because I want to help this team, this club to play Champions League'.

"This shows how these players want to bring the club where it belongs to."

The stats behind Palmer's poor form

Palmer is on a nine-game goalless run in all competitions, extending back to his last goal on 14 January against Bournemouth.

The last time he registered an assist stretched back even longer to 1 December, these being his longest barren runs since joining Chelsea.

But there are numbers behind these two headline statistics that reveal more about this run in the league.

In chasing that elusive goal, Palmer is shooting more with 4.2 shots per game in matches since he last scored compared to 3.6 beforehand, though his shots inside the box remain the same at 1.9 per match.

He is also averaging 5.2 touches in the opposition box since his last goal which is up from 4.0 but, despite being up on certain metrics, his expected goals, excluding penalties, has dropped to 0.39 from 0.46, which suggests the quality of chances that he is being presented with are worse.

Palmer remains Chelsea's top goalscorer in the Premier League on 14 goals this season.

However, despite certain metrics increasing on shots taken, Palmer's creative stats are down in the league.

He is down from 2.8 chances per 90 minutes created since his last assist on 1 December to 2.5 - and chances created from open play (excluding set-pieces) is down from 2.5 to 1.8.

The quality of the chances he has created, however, is up to 0.30 per game from 0.22. The expected assists, the ranking which ranks how likely a player is to score from a chance that is created, is 4.73 which suggests that his team-mates should have scored at least four goals from his passes and crosses since the start of December.

Chelsea unconvincing but pushing for Europe

It still does not feel like Chelsea are fully back to form despite back-to-back wins for the first time since between November and December.

On Sunday, Chelsea supporters again booed players who passed the ball backwards and, after Cucurella's goal, Maresca turned to supporters and told them to pump up the volume.

When addressing the situation in his post-match comments, the Italian added: "People have to understand this is our way, our style, and this is the way we are going to play. When a team creates the number of chances we created today you have to be happy.

"It's not easy. Leicester until minute 83 were 0-0 against Arsenal. The same thing happened against [Manchester] City. If you think football is just PlayStation and you win easy? No way. Every game is difficult."

The Blues had looked like title contenders while in second place December and the fans were chanting "we've got our Chelsea back" during a win at home to Brentford.

However, they then went on a run of just two wins in 10 matches and the chants of "we want our Chelsea back" returned from last season.

But victory, even if unconvincing, sees Chelsea leapfrog Manchester City and move back in fourth place with Champions League qualification back in the club's sights for the first time under this new ownership.

Arsenal and Tottenham are up next for Chelsea, with fixtures against Liverpool, Newcastle and Manchester United also to come in their final 10 league matches.