Chelsea star Palmer couldn’t believe Man Utd tactic: “Yeah, I was thinking, ‘what?'”

Chelsea star Cole Palmer could not believe the space Man Utd allowed him as he scored his favourite goal for the Blues last season.

The Blues signed Palmer from Premier League champions Man City in the summer of 2023 with Chelsea spending an initial £40m on the attacker, which now seems like a bargain price.

Palmer contributed 22 goals and 11 assists in 33 Premier League appearances during his first season at Stamford Bridge and has continued his good form this season with two goals and four assists in their first five league matches.

A stoppage-time winner against Man Utd last season stands out as Palmer’s favourite goal since joining Chelsea in a 4-3 win over the Red Devils at Stamford Bridge .

Conor Gallagher and Palmer gave the Blues an early two-goal lead before a Alejandro Garnacho brace and a Bruno Fernandes strike turned the game on its head.

But Palmer scored a penalty in the 10th minute of stoppage time to equalise before his stunning strike moments later secured all three points for Chelsea.

After receiving the ball from a corner, Man Utd gave him the space and time to take a touch before smashing the ball through a crowd of players to score.

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Watching it back, Palmer told the Premier League show Uncut : “This is my favourite goal. I just couldn’t believe how much time and space I had. When I got the ball, I took a touch and then I took another one and I thought ‘where is everyone?’

“Then there was just loads of players there so I thought ‘if I shoot on target, hard, I’ve got a chance’. When I got it, they were all pointing saying ‘mark him’, and none of them came out.”

When asked whether he was  surprised by the space he had been allowed by Man Utd with only seconds on the clock, Palmer replied: “Yeah, I was thinking, ‘what?'”

The Chelsea attacker added: “I don’t even know why I was there, I just went there. It was a good one.”

It wasn’t necessarily the quality of the striker that made it Palmer’s favourite but more the emotion of the goal, he continued: “You don’t even know what to do.

“Just running and then I saw all of the bench coming and I thought they were going to take me out. I went to run to the manager first but then I saw Axel and Benoit and I thought, na, U-turn. So I ran the other way. Just emotion wasn’t it? We were losing it was the 96th minute and they were just passing it around us and then we scored two.”