Will Chelsea's Cole Palmer start vs. Leeds? FPL dilemma solved for Gameweek 26placeholder image
Will Chelsea's Cole Palmer start vs. Leeds? FPL dilemma solved for Gameweek 26 | Getty Images
Cole Palmer may have scored a hat-trick over the weekend but he still isn’t fit - will he start against Leeds, and should FPL managers sign him?
When Cole Palmer was substituted against Wolves over the weekend having completed a first-half hat-trick, it represented the perfect opportunity for Liam Rosenior to manage his most important player’s minutes – and provided a fresh headache for the millions of Fantasy Premier League players who either have him in their side or would like after another superb display for Chelsea.
No sooner had Chelsea wrapped up their 3-1 win at the Molineux than Palmer admitted that he was still not fully fit after a run of injury issues, and the result is that it’s difficulty to be sure whether he will play in the midweek fixture against Leeds United this Tuesday. We decided to look at whether Palmer was likely to be involved – and what FPL managers should do with their transfers as a midweek deadline nears…
What did Cole Palmer say about his fitness – and will he start against Leeds?
Speaking to Match of the Day after he had inspired Chelsea’s win against Wolves, Palmer was asked whether he was 100% fit after a string of injuries marred the first half of his season – and his answer probably wasn’t what many FPL managers wanted to hear.
“I don’t think I am [fully fit] just yet,” Palmer said. “Obviously people don’t know what goes on behind the scenes but being injured the whole season is not ideal and when I’m not able to perform as I want to because I’ve been injured, and still dealing with the injury, but hopefully I can get over the injury soon by managing it…
“Not being 100% fit isn’t ideal, I still feel like I can help the team but when I’m back to full fitness I feel like I can go to another level.”
In short, Rosenior’s decision to take Palmer off the pitch just after the hour mark represented a continuation of the policy of managing the attacking midfielder’s minutes, and the 23-year-old’s comments suggest that it’s not a policy which will be withdrawn over the coming weeks.
It’s certainly possible, then, that Palmer will be rested against Leeds, with a gap of just three days between games – but it’s also worth noting that Rosenior has so far started Palmer in every single Premier League match for which he has been available, excluding him from the squad only when necessitated by injury.
Indeed, the 61 minutes Palmer played was his briefest involvement in his four top-flight games under Rosenior to date. Palmer has been rested, benched and taken on and off, but primarily in other competitions – he was a half-time substitute against Napoli in the Champions League, for instance, and played just half an hour against Arsenal in the EFL Cup semi-final second leg.
The pattern points to Palmer starting against Leeds and being rested for the FA Cup fourth round tie with Hull City on Friday night instead – and the decision to substitute Palmer earlier against Wolves hints that it was done with the Leeds game in mind.
Should you sign Palmer for your FPL team this week?
Given that Chelsea have scored three goals in four of their last five matches, and given Palmer’s centrality to their attacking play, signing him ahead of a fixture against Leeds doesn’t seem like a bad idea at all, especially off the back of a hat-trick – but there are caveats.
Firstly, there is a very good chance that he doesn’t play the full 90 minutes, and he won’t score a hat-trick within 38 minutes every time. Secondly, while Chelsea’s next game after this is against Burnley, their fixture difficulty rockets directly after that with matches against Arsenal, Aston Villa, Newcastle, Manchester City and Manchester United in their next six.
Signing Palmer, therefore, would be a short-term move and that’s not necessarily advisable when his minutes are likely to be limited to at least some degree. Certainly, if you sign him, you should be planning how to move on from him by Gameweek 28.
On the other hand, one of his most obvious rivals for a space in a team, Bukayo Saka, is injured and unlikely to play in at least one of Arsenal’s two fixtures in the upcoming gameweek. If you’re one of the many players looking for an alternative, Palmer has very high upside over the next two games.
Palmer has unusually low ownership at present – 13.3% at the time of writing – due to all his injuries, and that makes him a superb differential option for a team in need of some points over the next couple of weeks. There are drawbacks and the floor is low, but the ceiling is suitably lofty.
For those looking to play things safer, those players who have healthy mini-league leads and don’t need to take chances, it’s probably better to roll that free transfer over or to sign Bruno Fernandes. But Palmer is a tempting gamble for two weeks – and one that could well pay off. Certainly, we would be surprised if he didn’t start on Tuesday evening.
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