Looking at recent statistics, it is clear that Cole Palmer's form is not convincing. 3 goals in 11 matches in all competitions and no assists in the last 13 matches. It would be easy to put that record on par with Chelsea's decline in form and blame Palmer for the difficulties the Blues have encountered.
However, that would be an inaccurate assessment. Chelsea's trip to Aston Villa is the right time to take a closer look at Palmer's performance and the real problems Enzo Maresca's side are facing.
Back on 1 December 2024, in the match against Villa at Stamford Bridge, Palmer had his most recent assist. The English midfielder passed the ball to Enzo Fernandez to score the second goal for Chelsea. Palmer sealed the 3-0 victory himself, with a beautiful shot into the top corner.
This result took Chelsea to third place in the Premier League table, equal in points with Arsenal. Maresca had to answer questions about whether his side were title contenders in the post-match press conference.
Now no one asks Maresca that anymore. Chelsea won their next three Premier League games after defeating Villa. However, they have drawn 3 and lost 4 of their next 9 matches, along with a collapse in mid-December that made hopes of qualifying for the Champions League questionable.
Chelsea's 0-3 defeat to Brighton last week was considered Chelsea's worst performance under Maresca. The Blues failed to even have a shot on target at Amex.
Ironically, when questions about Palmer's contributions began to arise, his creativity really increased.
Palmer has provided six assists in the first 13 games of the season. In the 12 games since then, Palmer's expected assists data - which measures the quality of opportunities created - has nearly doubled, from 2.63 to 4.15.
In fact, throughout this season, Palmer has created many great opportunities for his teammates but the number of assists is extremely modest. Only Bukayo Saka has created more clear-cut chances than Palmer, but Arsenal and Liverpool's Mohamed Salah have both provided significantly more assists.
Of course, the waste of the attack is not new to Chelsea fans. There has been criticism of Nicolas Jackson for a long time. The Senegalese striker has the worst conversion rate of chances among players with 20 or more goalscoring situations this season.
Noni Madueke (missing 11 big chances out of 15.) and Christopher Nkunku (missing 5 out of 7.) also wasted scoring moments.
In his last 10 Premier League games, Palmer has only had two big chances and scored in both of them. Palmer's 47% chance conversion rate is his best at Chelsea among players with at least two such chances.
Chelsea are currently having a lot of problems but Palmer is not one of them.
