Fabian Hurzeler makes Cole Palmer admission ahead of Chelsea vs Brighton

Deployed as Chelsea’s primary number 10, he is playing with total freedom under Xabi Alonso, who has given him the green light to wander, drift into space, and dictate the attack.

Alonso’s trust has visibly brought back his swagger, and the arrival of close friend Morgan Rogers has only added to that spark.

Picking up the Man of the Match award against Fulham, Palmer is off to a brilliant start.

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Fabian Hurzeler urges caution over Cole Palmer

Brighton head into this weekend’s clash with Chelsea off the back of a thumping win over Tromso in their Europa Conference League second leg tie.

However, Fabian Hurzeler isn’t getting ahead of himself, despite the win, as he’s more focused on how his side is going to deal with Cole Palmer.

Hurzeler warned his side cannot defend against Cole Palmer “one-to-one” and instead must be collectively good around the forward and Chelsea’s other talents (BBC).

No matter what tactics Brighton come up with it can be almost impossible to defend Palmer when he’s on his game, like we saw at Craven Cottage.

Especially now Chelsea have the quality of Estevao Willian, Morgan Rogers and Joao Pedro potentially on the pitch at the same time. It becomes a case of having to watch out for every man, whereas in the past there’s been a weak point like Alejandro Garnacho in the Blues attack.