On October 1, 2023, Chelsea have been in dire straits. They have been sitting in 14th within the Premier League via six matchweeks, they usually’d scored simply 5 targets. It was arguably one in all their darkest moments for the reason that pre-Abramovich period. Nevertheless, it could not final lengthy, as precisely one month earlier, they’d signed a promising however untested attacker from Manchester Metropolis named Cole Palmer for simply 40 million kilos.
Palmer’s 22 targets and 11 assists in that season helped them end robust, shedding simply as soon as of their closing 15 matches to snag sixth place and a spot within the Convention League. This yr, Chelsea are third within the desk via 11 matches, they usually have their sights set on one thing significantly better for this season—as does Cole Palmer, who’s at the moment sitting atop the percentages leaderboard for this yr’s PFA Participant of the 12 months award, at +300 betting odds.
Cole Palmer Presents Nice Worth For PFA Participant of the 12 months
| Participant | Staff | Odds |
| Cole Palmer | Chelsea | +300 |
| Mohamed Salah | Liverpool | +350 |
| Erling Haaland | Manchester Metropolis | +400 |
| Bukayo Saka | Arsenal | +1,000 |
| Kevin De Bruyne | Manchester Metropolis | +1,600 |
Final yr, Metropolis’s Phil Foden gained the PFA Participant of the 12 months award with six fewer purpose involvements than Cole Palmer. Nevertheless, whereas Chelsea barely scraped its solution to a sixth place end, Metropolis gained their fifth PL title in six years underneath Pep Guardiola. Clearly, you’ll be able to’t simply be participant, it’s a must to play for staff too.
With Chelsea now in a official combat for the highest 4 and Champions League locations, the same season for Palmer this yr ought to be sufficient to take residence the {hardware}. Palmer had 33 purpose involvements in 33 PL appearances in 2023-2024, and this yr, he’s bought 12 in 11. So not solely is Chelsea enjoying significantly better, however Palmer has by some means discovered a solution to construct on his otherworldly breakout efficiency final season. He’s additionally spreading out his contributions, serving to out extra within the buildup with 5 assists to go along with his seven targets.
Nevertheless, whereas he’s at the moment atop the leaderboard, his perch up there may be perilous, to say the least. Three of the opposite 4 gamers within the high 5 have gained the award during the last 4 seasons. In reality, KDB, Haaland, and Salah mixed to win this award 5 of six occasions from 2018-2023. The betting odds for Palmer, Haaland, and Salah are particularly tight.
So tight, the truth is, that some on-line sportsbooks would possibly even have Metropolis’s talisman atop their leaderboard relatively than Palmer. Haaland does have already got 12 targets, so he’s about on tempo with what he did final yr, when he misplaced the award to his teammate. If Chelsea can keep within the high 4 and Palmer maintains his present scoring tempo, he ought to be an awesome worth guess right here. The truth that he’s the one Englishman within the working (Saka is a methods again) provides him a slight edge too.
Might Palmer Win Premier League Golden Boot Too?
Since Erling Haaland joined the Premier League forward of the 2022-2023 season, he has been past dominant in entrance of the online. In that debut yr, he scored 36 targets in 35 PL matches. The man in second place had 30. Final yr, he regressed a bit, scoring simply 27 league targets. This time, the margin was a tad smaller, as Palmer checked in in 2nd place along with his 22 targets, regardless that his 11 assists gave him extra purpose involvements (33) than Haaland (32).
So, the large query is, can Palmer dethrone the mighty manchild they name Erling Haaland and preserve him from successful his third straight Golden Boot? Properly, sportsbooks don’t assume so proper now, they usually’re not fallacious.
Haaland has 12 already this yr, whereas Palmer has seven and Salah is in there with eight as effectively. Whereas guys like Chris Wooden and Bryan Mbeumo even have eight proper now, we don’t count on them to maintain that tempo up, so it looks like the trio from Metropolis, Liverpool, and Chelsea are actually the one ones competing for this award at this level. Nevertheless, after scoring 10 targets within the first 5 matches, Haaland has solely scored two in his final six PL begins, so he may very well be displaying his mortality as a goalscorer simply as his staff, Metropolis, are doing the identical as PL champions.
Haaland is at -500 odds to win the Golden Boot, with Salah coming in at +750 (which looks like the most effective guess on the board) and Palmer coming in third at +1,200. Whereas Palmer has an awesome shot at successful the PFA Participant of the 12 months as the most effective participant general, it’s onerous to guess in opposition to the uncooked numbers of Erling Haaland in terms of strictly purpose scoring.
