Cole Palmer became the first player in Premier League history to score four first-half goals in the same game as Chelsea ended Brighton’s unbeaten start to the season in a chaotic 4-2 victory at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea trailed after goalkeeper Robert Sanchez’s failure to claim an aerial ball gave Georgino Rutter his first Brighton goal seven minutes in. Moises Caicedo and Levi Colwill were also at fault for failing to clear inside their own box.
Enzo Maresca’s side responded impressively as they ran riot against a Brighton defence that was missing Joel Veltman and Jan Paul van Hecke. Palmer was set up by Nicolas Jackson’s pull-back for his first before continuing his perfect penalty record after Jadon Sancho was fouled.
Palmer completed his hat-trick in an 11-minute window, scoring his third with an inch-perfect free-kick from 25 yards out, to seemingly put Chelsea in control until Sanchez made another error to hand Brighton a route back into the game.
Carlos Baleba pounced on the Chelsea goalkeeper’s poor pass out three minutes after Palmer’s third to raise the tension inside Stamford Bridge. Palmer soon eased those nerves, though, making history with his fourth after being set up by Sancho.
Palmer’s only regret will be that he did not finish the game with more goals, striking narrowly wide when through on goal around the hour. That would have seen him match the single-game record in the Premier League.
Chelsea’s impressive start to the season under Enzo Maresca sees them one point behind title challengers Manchester City and Arsenal after six games, while Brighton are in eighth place after their first defeat.
Palmer ‘fuming’ not to score five
Cole Palmer with the match ball after scoring four goals in the 4-2 over Brighton
“I just said to Cole, he scored four, he could score two, three more,” Maresca said of Palmer after the game. “It’s good that he continues to be angry and ambitious.”
Palmer was told at half-time of the record, but ultimately fell just short. Dimitar Berbatov, Sergio Aguero, Andy Cole, Alan Shearer and Jermain Defoe remain the only players to have scored five in a single Premier League game.
“When I missed the chance in the second half I was fuming,” Palmer told Sky Sports. “I should have scored that so I was pretty angry.
“I knew the record, someone told me at half-time. I wasn’t thinking about that though, I just wanted to win.”
Palmer had a slow start to the season by his own lofty standards set last season, scoring two before this game, but says he is now up to speed after a long summer with England at Euro 2024.
He added: “I’ve not had a pre-season so the first games coming back I was taking a bit of time to get up to speed. But now I am at full fitness and ready.”
Asked about the goals, he added: “The free-kick was my favourite. I haven’t been practising, I was just deciding which way to go and saw the goalkeeper a bit more toward the left.”
Maresca praises ‘humble’ Palmer’s mentality
Cole Palmer celebrates after making it 2-1 to Chelsea
Maresca worked with Palmer at Manchester City before he had broken into senior football and says nothing has changed about the midfielder’s approach despite his stratospheric rise over the past 12 months.
“I know Cole from many years ago,” he said after the game. “I had him already one entire season with U23s at City and then with the first team.
“The best thing he has is that in the way he is today as a boy, he was exactly in that way three, four years ago. So goals, assists, the best player of the Premier League.
“This doesn’t change the way he is. He’s a simple guy, he’s a humble guy. And this is, for me, the most important thing.
“He’s a top player, he’s a top player. And the important thing about the previous thing is that today in football, young players, they change very quick.
“They score one goal and they think that they are already, you know. And Cole, he scored many goals, many assists. He’s a top player but he never changed. And this is the most important thing.”
Is Sanchez performance a concern for Chelsea?
Georginio Rutter heads Brighton into a 1-0 lead
Sanchez was at fault for both of Brighton’s goals at Stamford Bridge, creating an unnecessary sense of unease for Chelsea in a game they probably should have coasted through.
His decision-making was perplexing when coming to claim a high ball for Rutter’s opener early on. Staying on his line was the obvious choice, and would have saved him some embarrassment.
But the more worrying of his mistakes leading to a goal was the second, a slack pass to Moises Caicedo intercepted by Baleba, as it raises questions about his suitability for Maresca’s system.
The Chelsea coach defended Sanchez after the game, though.
“I said to Robert and I said to the players, from now on we are going to concede ten more goals like the way we conceded the second goal because it’s the way we want to play.
“We have already scored goals with Robert involved in the build-up. But it’s important that after the mistake the team completely continue in the same way. That means that they enjoy, they like and they see that also we win games.”
Summer-signing Filip Jorgensen is waiting in the wings for his chance to impress. It will likely come in Thursday’s UEFA Conference League opener against Gent.
Hurzeler to consider changes after ‘easy mistakes’
Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler says he will consider making changes to his set-up after his side’s defensive errors cost them against Chelsea.
“It was one bad event after another and they had an unbelievable player,” he said after the game.
“You can’t win when you make these easy mistakes. If necessary, we have to adapt something.”
Brighton were without Van Hecke and Veltman which forced them to make tweaks in defence. Centre-back Adam Webster came in for his first league start while Ferdi Kadioglu made his full debut at right-back.
Chelsea cut through Brighton with ease in the first half, capitalising on their high line, and Hurzeler added: “You always need a connection on the pitch. We made a lot of changes and there were not the connections needed.”
Asked about Palmer, he told Sky Sports: “There are not many players in the Premier League like him. He is special.
“We win together and lose together. We can’t make these easy mistakes if we want to win here. We need to learn from it, including me.”
