On October 1, 2023, Chelsea have been in dire straits. They have been sitting in 14th within the Premier League by way of six matchweeks, they usually’d scored simply 5 targets. It was arguably certainly one of their darkest moments for the reason that pre-Abramovich period. Nonetheless, it might not final lengthy, as precisely one month earlier, they’d signed a promising however untested attacker from Manchester Metropolis named Cole Palmer for simply 40 million kilos.
Palmer’s 22 targets and 11 assists in that season helped them end robust, dropping simply as soon as of their ultimate 15 matches to snag sixth place and a spot within the Convention League. This 12 months, Chelsea are third within the desk by way of 11 matches, they usually have their sights set on one thing a lot better for this season—as does Cole Palmer, who’s at present sitting atop the chances leaderboard for this 12 months’s PFA Participant of the 12 months award, at +300 betting odds.
Cole Palmer Gives Nice Worth For PFA Participant of the 12 months
Participant
Staff
Odds
Cole Palmer
Chelsea
+300
Mohamed Salah
Liverpool
+350
Erling Haaland
Manchester Metropolis
+400
Bukayo Saka
Arsenal
+1,000
Kevin De Bruyne
Manchester Metropolis
+1,600
Final 12 months, Metropolis’s Phil Foden gained the PFA Participant of the 12 months award with six fewer objective involvements than Cole Palmer. Nonetheless, whereas Chelsea barely scraped its strategy to a sixth place end, Metropolis gained their fifth PL title in six years below Pep Guardiola. Clearly, you possibly can’t simply be a superb participant, you need to play for a superb crew too.
With Chelsea now in a official combat for the highest 4 and Champions League locations, the same season for Palmer this 12 months must be sufficient to take residence the {hardware}. Palmer had 33 objective involvements in 33 PL appearances in 2023-2024, and this 12 months, he’s obtained 12 in 11. So not solely is Chelsea enjoying a lot better, however Palmer has one way or the other discovered a strategy to construct on his otherworldly breakout efficiency final season. He’s additionally spreading out his contributions, serving to out extra within the buildup with 5 assists to go together with his seven targets.
Nonetheless, whereas he’s at present atop the leaderboard, his perch up there’s perilous, to say the least. Three of the opposite 4 gamers within the prime 5 have gained the award during the last 4 seasons. Actually, KDB, Haaland, and Salah mixed to win this award 5 of six occasions from 2018-2023. The betting odds for Palmer, Haaland, and Salah are particularly tight.
So tight, the truth is, that some on-line sportsbooks would possibly even have Metropolis’s talisman atop their leaderboard quite than Palmer. Haaland does have already got 12 targets, so he’s about on tempo with what he did final 12 months, when he misplaced the award to his teammate. If Chelsea can keep within the prime 4 and Palmer maintains his present scoring tempo, he must be an incredible worth guess right here. The truth that he’s the one Englishman within the working (Saka is a methods again) offers him a slight edge too.
Might Palmer Win Premier League Golden Boot Too?
Since Erling Haaland joined the Premier League forward of the 2022-2023 season, he has been past dominant in entrance of the web. In that debut 12 months, he scored 36 targets in 35 PL matches. The man in second place had 30. Final 12 months, he regressed a bit, scoring simply 27 league targets. This time, the margin was a tad smaller, as Palmer checked in in 2nd place together with his 22 targets, although his 11 assists gave him extra objective involvements (33) than Haaland (32).
So, the large query is, can Palmer dethrone the mighty manchild they name Erling Haaland and preserve him from profitable his third straight Golden Boot? Effectively, sportsbooks don’t suppose so proper now, they usually’re not flawed.
Haaland has 12 already this 12 months, whereas Palmer has seven and Salah is in there with eight as nicely. Whereas guys like Chris Wooden and Bryan Mbeumo even have eight proper now, we don’t anticipate them to maintain that tempo up, so it looks like the trio from Metropolis, Liverpool, and Chelsea are actually the one ones competing for this award at this level. Nonetheless, after scoring 10 targets within the first 5 matches, Haaland has solely scored two in his final six PL begins, so he could possibly be exhibiting his mortality as a goalscorer simply as his crew, Metropolis, are doing the identical as PL champions.
Haaland is at -500 odds to win the Golden Boot, with Salah coming in at +750 (which looks like the perfect guess on the board) and Palmer coming in third at +1,200. Whereas Palmer has an incredible shot at profitable the PFA Participant of the 12 months as the perfect participant general, it’s laborious to guess towards the uncooked numbers of Erling Haaland relating to strictly objective scoring.
