For five months it looked like Chelsea's player of the season award was locked in again. Cole Palmer would take it, sweeping up the individual accolades. Enzo Maresca's team was less reliant on the former Manchester City ace but he was still very much central to everything good on the field.
Since January that has all changed. Palmer is on the worst run of goalscoring form in his senior career. That is still only a year-and-a-half of evidence but when one player is as key to a club as Palmer has been, the issues are exaggerated and extenuated.
His personal drop off (one goal since January 5 and no assists) has coincided with results on the pitch tanking. Palmer has so often dragged Chelsea through the tricky moments, standing up to be the guy and taking plaudits when it goes well, also often the only one with credit when matters haven't been as good.
Palmer's rapid start to life under Maresca continued his trajectory to becoming one of the world's biggest stars. He had two goals and four assists within five Premier League matches and then scored four in one half against Brighton before the first international break of the season.
Even during the start of Maresca's mid-season slump he was scoring and impacting games. The 22-year-old is now nine without scoring and that includes fixtures against the league's bottom two as well as minutes way to FC Copenhagen. Maresca doesn't seem to think fatigue is an issue but admitted that he was playing through illness during Sunday's win over Leicester City.
He is now a doubt for the return Conference League last-16 meeting with Copenhagen on Thursday and will be keen to be fully fit for the trip to Arsenal three days later. Palmer missed that game 12 months ago and watched his team destroyed 5-0 just 24 hours after Mauricio Pochettino had called on his squad to prove that they aren't 'Cole Palmer FC.'
The response indicated that perhaps Chelsea really were becoming a one-man team and the trends of this season have tended to fall in line with that. Nicolas Jackson's injury and finishing issues left Palmer, again, as the only reliable scorer. Noni Madueke is the most dangerous winger and is also out.
When Chelsea have needed others to step up there hasn't been much to shout about. One player certainly in with a shout of pipping Palmer to the club's player of the season title is Enzo Fernandez.
His closest competition is likely from Marc Cucurella and Moises Caicedo. Fernandez has found his feet as a creative force this season after playing through pain under Pochettino and it really is showing.
The baseline metrics have improved (Fernandez has nine league goal involvements - four goals and five assists from 26 matches - 22 starts - and just over 2,000 minutes, which is already four more than last season) but so too has the underlying picture. Fernandez has been operating further forward this year, moving away from a double-pivot and often into a No.10 role as of late, allowing Palmer to operate in his favoured right-pocket.
Fernandez continues to be the most adventurous passer in the team and has made the third most into the box in the squad, behind only Palmer and Jadon Sancho, who are both in more advanced positions. The Argentine is second to Palmer for key passes and also progressive passes.
It is only Palmer who is ahead of him for through balls, and nobody has more shot-creating actions. In recent weeks, specifically, Fernandez has been a reliable source of impetus for Chelsea. He scored away to Aston Villa despite the team losing and then managed a crucial second away to Copenhagen.
Enzo Fernandez celebrates after putting Chelsea 1-0 at Aston Villa.
Enzo Fernandez celebrates after putting Chelsea 1-0 at Aston Villa.
On Sunday it was his pass to find Cucurella for the only goal of the game. Although Fernandez's best weapons are often not measured simply in these terms, it is evident that his forces are being felt on matches more and more.
His season-to-season comparison is also telling. Maresca admitted at the weekend that he was instructing Fernandez to slow play down and pass backwards more, not something that brings out the best from him, but when the ball is circulated through Fernandez he is being more effective with it.
He is playing nearly double the number of key passes per game as he did last season even though his passes into the final third has come down since arriving at Chelsea in January 2023. His passes into the penalty area and progressive passes are also lower in that time but when he does chose to move it forward and pick up the tempo it is having more of an impact.
It may just be the signs of a player coming into his own because through balls and switches per90 are also down on the last two years. Fernandez's importance in this team and especially in attack is definitely bigger now than it ever has been before.
Maresca appears to have found a role for him playing on the right which Pochettino was not able to regularly get the best out of him. That is partially down to injury but also the consistent use of him as an orthodox No.10 rather than the slightly withdrawn area he is in now.
Fernandez, despite being down in the metrics elsewhere, is still in among the most prolific passers at Chelsea and is creating more shots per game than he has done previously. This is an area of his play which has been needed more due to Palmer's absence of output.
He may still be a long way short of being the £105million player that was signed from Benfica, and Fernandez is one of the players who touches the ball most in a team now being heavily criticised for its laborious nature, but in 2025 this is the best and most impactful version for a three month spell that Chelsea have had from him. It is more decisive than ever that it continues.
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Chelsea flag prior the UEFA Champions League Quarter Final Leg One match between Chelsea FC and Real Madrid at Stamford Bridge. (Photo by Jose Breton/Pics Action/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
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