We’re glad that even the most basic stats are moving beyond just goals scored. It’s taken a while for goals plus assists (known as “goal contributions”) to become the dominant simple metric for comparing attacking players, but it makes total sense.
It allows a wider variety of players to be included in discussions, and gives a much better picture of who the most decisive attacking players are.
Cole Palmer has 10 goal contributions in 6 Premier League games this season, a quite frightening number. He’s on course to come close to – and potentially even break – the all time record. Alan Shearer and Andrew Cole managed 47 in 42 games seasons, while Thierry Henry and Erling Haaland have the 38 game record tied at 44.
You can the chart in the image from OPTA embedded here:
Of course, this is putting a lot of pressure on him. The important thing to note is how far to the left he is. We’re only 6 games in, and there’s a lot of time left for him to drop off the pace.
But equally valid to note is that Haaland, Henry, Cole and Shearer are all true strikers, while Cole is a midfielder. And if Chelsea keep scoring at the crazy rate they are at the moment, Palmer will have plenty of chances to keep improving that number.
Enzo Maresca looks like he’s going to rest Palmer in all 3 cup competitions – at least until the very final stages – meaning he can really focus on the league in a way that perhaps some of his competition on this chart weren’t able to. It will take some doing, but it would genuinely be one of the most impressive feats by a Chelsea player we’ve ever seen.
Palmer doesn’t need to do anything to prove his quality at this stage – but this would certainly be a nice record to have.
