They call him Cold Palmer but he was red hot as he netted four goals to clip the wings of plucky Seagulls in 4-2 win at the Bridge
By Paul Lagan at Stamford Bridge
Chelsea 4 v Brighton 2
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It's nosebleed time for the Blues as Cole Palmer's four goals in a monster 4-2 win over Brighton puts them second in the Premier League.
That could all change of course tomorrow, but for now the table looks good for the boys from SW6, and for Palmer in particular.
All six goals came in a frantic, opening 45 minutes where Chelsea went behind, took the lead, extended it before losing one to make the game even more compelling.
However the second half was a insomniacs delight as the game meandered between boredom and tedium. But it was Chelsea's first home win of the season out of three encounters.
But it was Palmer who shone and a thunderous free-kick, as perfect as it could possibly be, the pick of the four.
Chelsea succumbed to a goal after seven minutes when Georginio Rutter rose above the rest six yards out after a failed clearance, leaving Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez punching air and the ball was headed home into an empty net.
The Seagulls almost doubled their lead on 16 minutes when a deflected shot was expertly punched out of the net by Sanchez.
To counter this, Chelsea relied on a quick breakaway and when Enzo fed Cole Palmer, the forward raced clear.
He had only Bart Verbruggen to beat. He tried a sly clipped effort, which beat the goalkeeper but the ball hit the base of the post
Palmer had the ball in the back of the net a minute later on 20 minutes, but he was rightly adjudged by the referee and VAR as being offside.
But a minute later he was in the right spot to slot home after Nicolas Jackson broke free , Verbruggen raced out but the striker passed to in-running Palmer who made no mistake.
The mistake came from Brighton's whose poor attempted back pass was intercepted by Jackson.
Jaydon Sancho thought he had got his first goal in Blue after Jackson again broke free and past to the winger who tucked home on 23 minutes.
But the linesman reckoned Jackson was just offside.
VAR eventually agreed.
The bonkers first 25 minutes ended when Sancho was rightly upended after a one two with Enzo and a penalty was awarded.
Up stepped Palmer, who coolly sent the goalkeeper the wrong way to put the Blues 2-1 up.
Noni then broke free on 28 minutes, only to be pulled back by Pervis Estupinon, who got a yellow card from Peter Bankes..
Palmer then hit his hat trick in the most spectacular way by lashing a beauty of a free-kick that sailed high past the wall and into the top left-hand corner of the net, giving Verbruggen no chance.
Chelsea then fumbled at the back with a terrible clearance by Sanchez Nd the ball was gleefully picked up by Carlos Baleba who smashed the ball home to make it 3-2 on 33 minutes.
Baleba then had an almighty shot, on target, that was well saved by Sanchez.
IT was Danny Welbeck's turn to have a goal attempt on 36 minutes, but his edge of area shot went high and wide.
Brighton's high line tactic, came unstuck once again on 38 I nuts, Noni raced clear but could not provide the clinical fin ish needed.
Palmer then hit his fourth with five min lutes left of the half. Another poor clearance from the Brighton defence saw the ball intercepted in their third. Within two passes, Palmer had the ball at his feet on the left and he squeezed it between Verbruggen and his near right post.
Welbeck then forced a creditable save from Sanchez to keep the score 4-2 to the home side.
There were no changes by either side at half-time.
Jackson had a fine effort saved by Verbruggen a minute in to the restart, suggesting the attacking philosophy of both side wasn't going to change.
Brighton thought they had a penalty when Kaaru Mitoma went down but the referee played on.
Jackson then beat the offside trap, collected a long ball, went round Verbruggen and shot towards goal, but Adam Webster was on hand to hack the ball clear of the goal-line.
Palmer missed a sitter on 56 minutes to hit his fifth, but he sent a low, right-footer just wide of the goal.
Marc Cucurella tucked the ball home from close range. The goal was given as offside, agreed by VAR
Pedro Neto replaced Noni on 63 minutes, closely followed by Mykhailo Mudryk and Renato Veiga – on 70 minutes – off went Sancho and Cucurella.
Two more followed – Christopher Nkunku and Romeo Lavia – off went Jackson and Enzo.
The yawns were all over the stadium, but the recognition of the manic first half will linger long.
Teams: Chelsea: Sanchez, Cucurella, Colwill, Enzo, Noni, Jackson, Sancho, Palmer, Caicedo, Gusto, Fofana
Subs: Jorgensen, Disasi, Tosin, Neto, Mudryk, Felix, Nkunku, Veiga, Lavia
Brighton: Verbruggen Webster, Dunk, Rutter, Welbeck, Baleba, Mitoma, Kadioglu, Wieffer, Estupinon, Hinshelwood
Subs:Steele, Lamptey, Julio, Enciso, Moder, Minteh, Ayari, Ferguson, Samuels
Referee: Peter Bankes
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