Soccer Football - Premier League - Luton Town v Chelsea - Kenilworth Road, Luton, Britain - December 30, 2023 Chelsea's Cole Palmer scores their first goal REUTERS/Ian Walton
LUTON, England (Reuters) - The Chelsea fans squeezed into the away end of Luton Town's tiny stadium on Saturday focused their adulation on one player in particular at the end of the Blues' 3-2 away win - Cole Palmer, the club's most impressive player so far of the season.
Palmer's signing from Manchester City in the close season puzzled many fans with the former European champions bringing in so many other attack-minded players.
But the 21-year-old midfielder is now Chelsea's top Premier League scorer this term after a double against Luton took his tally to eight, despite starting the season on the bench.
Palmer also tops the rankings for assists with another coming on Saturday when he passed to Noni Madueke to score Chelsea's second at Kenilworth Road.
His involvement in goals - either scoring them or making them - is now second only to Real Madrid's Jude Bellingham among players aged 21 or under in Europe's top five leagues, according to data firm Opta.
"Sign him up for eight more years," the Blues fans chorused after the latest master-class from Palmer whose form in recent months has earned him a call-up for England.
For his first goal he showed the ruthlessness missing from the rest of Chelsea's frontline for much of the season, lashing an angled shot past Thomas Kaminski in the 12th minute.
Moments earlier, Nicolas Jackson, another of Chelsea's close-season signings, had failed to trouble the Luton keeper with the kind of indecisive attempt on goal that has marked much of his first campaign in London.
If Palmer's first strike was all about power, his second in the 70th minute showed a delicacy of touch and calmness under pressure as he rounded Kaminsky and waited for his moment to steer the ball home as defenders floundered around him.
In between his goals, Palmer was in the right place in a breakaway to tee up Madueke to score the visitors' second before halftime.
Chelsea had to endure a late Luton fight back to secure the points after goals from former Blues midfielder Ross Barkley and Elijah Adebayo as they were roared on by the home fans.
"He's an important player for us, a decisive player and then scoring goals like this, I am so pleased with him and for the team," Chelsea coach Mauricio Pochettino said of Palmer when asked about his performance by reporters.
(Reporting by William Schomberg; Editing by Ken Ferris)
