Cole Palmer had the match of his life this weekend, scoring four goals in the first half as Chelsea defeated Brighton 4-2 at Stamford Bridge. The 22-year-old has quickly become the club's best player since signing for them last summer and he scored 22 league goals last season.
A lot of pressure was on Palmer ahead of this season due to the heights he reached in 2023/24 but it has been water off a duck's back for the England international. He is currently on six goals from six matches and is very much in the race to win the Premier League Golden Boot.
Palmer's odds have been shortened to 12/1 in the wake of his four-goal performance against Brighton which saw him leapfrog several players into second place. Here's why that price might be worth backing.
Cole Palmer Golden Boot odds: Why you should back the Chelsea man
He's their main goal outlet
There is no doubt that Enzo Maresca is building his team around Palmer which naturally means he is going to find himself in goalscoring opportunities more often than most players in the squad. Chelsea have been creating chances and scoring goals for fun under the ex-Leicester boss which bodes well for him moving forward.
Last season, he managed to score 22 league goals despite Chelsea playing poorly for the majority of the season. With the Blues now flying, it seems only natural that he is going to match or eclipse that number this time around.
Penalties
Chelsea are a team that win penalties more frequently than any other team in the Premier League and Palmer is their first choice taker. Last season, the Blues won 11 penalties with Palmer taking and scoring nine of them.
He has never missed from the penalty spot in his career so spot-kick duties aren't going to be taken away from him any time soon, either.
Free kicks
Palmer is deadly from the penalty spot and if Saturday is anything to go by then he also has the potential to become a free-kick master, too. Palmer's hat-trick goal at Stamford Bridge was a beauty of a free-kick from 25-yards out that hit the top corner and he admitted afterwards that he doesn't even practice set pieces.
If he starts working on them more, then just how good could he be from distance?
Problems for Haaland?
Erling Haaland is the odds-on favourite at 1/8 to win the Golden Boot for the third successive season and rightly so. He has already scored ten league goals but problems could be ahead for the Norweigan and Man City with Rodri out for the season.
While the Spaniard doesn't often directly assist Haaland, he effectively makes their entire system work so without him, things could dry up for the former Dortmund man.
Andy is tipster who has been calling Golf tournaments for several years across many different platforms. He has covered all tournaments from the Asian Tour to the Masters.
