CHELSEA’S double goal hero Cole Palmer thinks it is only a matter of time before the Blues show their true quality after today’s 3-2 victory at Luton.
The Blues made it back-to-back wins at following the midweek success over Crystal Palace, with Palmer playing a key role in all three strikes.
He took full advantage of a poor Issa Kabore clearance on 12 minutes to fire the visitors in front with an angled shot from just inside the box.
Palmer turned provider eight minutes before the break with a fine pass to Noni Madueke, who grabbed his second goal in as many games.
Nicolas Jackson played in Palmer on 70 minutes and he dinked it past Luton keeper Thomas Kaminski before evading two defenders and tapping in from six yards.
Chelsea were seemingly in complete control at this point, or so it seemed.
Luton, however, twice gave notice they weren’t done yet with Elijah Adebayo seeing a header chalked out for offside and then hitting the woodwork.
Former Blues midfielder Ross Barkley did pull one back with an 80th minute with a header from a corner.
And then Adebayo tapped in seven minutes later after Alfie Doughty’s header was pushed out by Djordje Petrovic to set up a Grandstand finish.
But Chelsea held on, leaving man-of-the-match Palmer to reflect on the potential success which is still to come from Mauricio Pochettino’s newly-assembled squad.
He told Chelsea TV: “We just need to work with each other every day.
“We’ve been together four months so it is a short period of time.
“I think on the training pitch we need to gel together, even off the pitch so we can work each other out. When we do that, we will start creating more chances and scoring more goals.
“Everything takes time. If you’ve just put something new together it is not going to be free flowing straight away.
“We just need to keep pushing and building.
“Everyone knows it has been a difficult year so to get three points after the other game as well (v Palace) we just ned to try and build on that.”
There was plenty of talk in the build-up to the Hatters game about the contrast in budgets and facilities between the two clubs.
Luton have already taken a point off Liverpool and given major scares to both Manchester City and Arsenal at their own stadium, so Palmer was happy to play his part in avoiding a potential surprise defeat.
He explained: “It’s a really tough place to come so get three points here in a difficult stadium, good fans – I’m delighted.
“We knew what they were about – long balls, set pieces, the crowd on top of you. We had to manage the game well and I think we did.
“It was very physical. They started pushing towards the end.
“In the last 20 minutes, they scored two goals which made it difficult, but we hung on and hopefully in 2024 we can keep pushing and building. In the first half I thought I did well.
“Then in the second half they put a man on me that I noticed so I had to try and make the space for others.”
Palmer’s excellent second goal was undoubtedly the highlight of the victory, a strike he was only too happy to recall afterwards.
“When I saw the keeper rush out and then I went round him, I just thought composure, think and put it in,” he added.
