Jadon Sancho has rapidly gone from unexpected deadline day signing to regular starter in this team, and yesterday saw him produce another good performance and pick up a third assist in three appearances for Chelsea.
He wasn’t the star of the show though – four goals for Cole Palmer meant he was once again the name on everybody’s lips. Sancho spoke to the club’s official website after the game and ended up speaking more about Palmer than this own performance:
“When you have a player in your team like Cole Palmer, then anything is possible. I’ve known Cole a long time, since our days together at City. I’ve always watched him and I always thought he would go on to be a great player. He’s showing that now at Chelsea,” Sancho explained
“We see what he’s capable of each day in training, we see the quality he has and honestly, it’s no real surprise to me to see him score four goals… Having a player like Cole alongside you is very good and I’m happy to assist him.”
Old friends ready to rebuild telepathic connection
What’s really exciting is that Palmer and Sancho have only just started working together again after years apart. Two such silky players who operate so exceptionally in tight spaces can really hope to develop an incredible relationship over time as they start to learn each other’s tendencies and the way they like to play in more detail.
We saw it on the fourth goal yesterday – Sancho squares up the defender and sees Palmer dash in behind the defensive line. The ball is weighted perfectly and angled to put it onto his left foot – which had already put three goals in and was waiting for the fourth.
It was only a flash of the potential connection between the two, but it bodes very well for the rest of this season and beyond. In many ways both have similar traits – they’re not super quick, so they’ve learned to be clever on the ball and off it, and once they adapt more to each other, the rest of the league better watch out.
