Cole Palmer was delighted to contribute with a goal and an assist, as the Blues returned to Premier League action with a 3-0 victory over Aston Villa.
Nicolas Jackson got us off to a fantastic start diverting Marc Cucurella’s cross into the net inside seven minutes before Cole set up Enzo Fernandez to double our lead - the Argentine's second in his last two Premier League matches.
After the break, the Blues remained solid warding off any potential Villa comeback before Palmer put the icing on the cake with an incredible curled finish into the top corner leaving the goalkeeper routed to the spot. His finish also meant that he is now the second-fastest Chelsea player to reach 30 Premier League goals just behind Jimmy Floyd-Hasselbaink - a feat he is proud to achieve.
With the Blues embarking on the busy festive season heading into December, Cole knows that a victory against Villa will help boost our momentum with another game on Wednesday night.
‘Aston Villa are a good team so it was a good win and to get three points against them was really good,’ Palmer opened.
‘For my goaI, I just tried to use the defender as a shield to curl the ball around him because I was so close to him. I thought if I could get it around him then I had a chance at scoring.
‘I didn’t know about that [record]. Jimmy wasn’t a bad striker to be fair! I don’t know about the records until anyone tells me! Jimmy is a legend at Chelsea and the Premier League.’
Our No. 20 also praised his head coach Enzo Maresca, detailing how much desire and effort the Italian demands from the squad, especially across multiple competitions.
‘The manager knows what he’s doing so we trust him,' he continued.
‘The cup competitions are good and people don’t travel so we have fresh legs to change it up. I think it’s all down to the manager and the desire he puts into the sessions, and then what the players give for him. You can see out there from the way we were playing.'
He also spoke about how much loves playing alongside Jackson with the pair both on eight goals in the Premier League so far.
‘Me and Nico work well together,’ he said. ‘We speak to each other everyday and we message each other after games. We’re trying to work on our relationship to help us on the pitch and hopefully that work is showing.’
But Cole is keeping his feet on the ground, echoing the thoughts of his head coach when it comes to our league ambitions.
‘It’s too early [to predict this season],' he added. 'If we keep winning then we’ll be near the top four, but like the gaffer said Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal have been together for more than five years, whereas we’ve only been together for a season. We just want to keep going and winning the games.’