In April 2024, ahead of the big match against Arsenal, Chelsea fell into a difficult situation when Cole Palmer was sick and unable to play. At that time, Mauricio Pochettino tried to stimulate the team's spirit: "This is the time for everyone to prove Chelsea are not Cole Palmer FC".
However, that call for help completely failed. Chelsea lost 0-5 at the Emirates, a defeat that exposed their almost absolute dependence on Palmer.
After that, when Palmer's form declined somewhat under Enzo Maresca, this striker was still a big contributor to Chelsea's peak in all competitions, from the Conference League championship to the FIFA Club World Cup.
19 months have passed, before another confrontation with Arsenal, Chelsea have come to the light with a very different mindset when they believe they can completely win even without Cole Palmer.
13 games without Palmer and Chelsea have scored 30 goals
A groin injury and most recently a broken little finger in his left foot have cost Palmer a total of 13 appearances. Perhaps before the season, no one thought Chelsea would play well without their biggest star for more than a month.
During that time, Chelsea have lost just two, one of which came in the 10-man position against Brighton. More importantly, The Blues scored 30 goals, an impressive number for the team that was considered to lack diversity in attack.
If Palmer has been the top scorer in the last 2 seasons of the team (25 goals in the 2023-2024 season and 18 goals in the 2024-2025 season), now the goals come from all positions. Liam Delap's 3-0 goal against Barcelona helped Palmer's away goalscorers reach 16 (including an own goal), showing a clear shared responsibility in the squad.
Estevao is the new pearl
If he had to pick one to fill in the void of Palmer, it would have been Estevao. The 18-year-old star scored 5 goals in a series of matches without Palmer and became the focus in the victory over Barcelona in the Champions League.
Confidence, the ability to handle big situations and the explosive energy of the game reminded Stamford Bridge fans right from the moment Palmer appeared from Man City in 2023. In a dribble that completely lost Pau Cubarsi, then kicked into Joan Garcia's net to make history, Estevao became the third player to score in all three of his first Champions League games. The other two are Mbappe and Haaland.
Expectations rose so high that a reporter asked Maresca if the goal reminded him of Messi. However, the Chelsea captain immediately "cooled down" when he said that Estevao needed to enjoy football, could not bear the pressure of comparing him to Messi or Ronaldo when he was only 18 years old.
Maresca's protection of young talent shows maturity in his management style, while avoiding players falling into the spiral of excessive expectations.
The power of the whole team
Although Estevao stands out, Chelsea's biggest bright spot is their team moving forward. On the opposite wing, Alejandro Garnacho and Jamie Gittens brought home a total of 9 contributions to goals in a series of 13 matches. Players who were not expected like Andrey Santos or Tyrique George also had 4 goals.
Pedro Neto - a direct competitor to Estevao's position is also playing excellently. Maresca was straightforward: If Estevao is not a starter, Neto will play, he is also very good. At Chelsea at the moment, no one is imposable but no one is left behind.
Not only scoring, the London team is also proving that they can be creative without Palmer to carry the team. There are up to 13 different players providing assists in this series of matches. That shows that Maresca's playing style of controlling and swapping positions is being eliminated, while creating diversity in the approach to the goal.
Palmer is about to return and Chelsea will be even more dangerous
The good news is that Palmer has returned to training and is getting closer to his comeback day. In the match against Barcelona, the image of him smiling, shaking hands with Estevao was like a message that Palmer understood that he would be part of a bigger picture, no longer an individual having to carry a whole team as before.
The final question is will Chelsea be stronger with Palmer? There will be many answers, but perhaps the prospect of both Palmer and Estevao starting together will make the Premier League and Europe wary. One is calm, cold, the other is youthful, explosive. Two styles, two sources of energy but both aim for an increasingly mature Chelsea.
