Palmer impressing Tuchel as England learn World Cup qualifying fate | OneFootball

England head coach Thomas Tuchel has heaped praise on Cole Palmer’s blistering start to the season with Chelsea.

The midfielder has scored 11 goals and assisted six in his 15 Premier League appearances so far this campaign.

Tuchel was speaking as the Three Lions were drawn in Group K alongside Serbia, Albania, Latvia and Andorra in the 2026 World Cup qualifying.

Whilst the German was keen to avoid singling out the Chelsea star, he couldn’t help but share his admiration for the 22-year-old:

“That’s a bit too far going into individual players, but he is definitely on form. I think everyone would agree on that. Hopefully, he can still grow and keep the level up and then everything will be fine.

“Everyone enjoys watching him. He’s cool, he’s composed, and he’s very clinical in finishing and assisting. Very impressive at the moment.”

ENGLAND LEARN FATE

On the favourable draw, Tuchel insists all opponents will be given full respect before England can ‘dream the dream’ of winning the World Cup.

“I have a huge respect for Serbia and Albania, they can always surprise. They have a strong history of football, technical football, emotional crowds, emotional players, and emotional groups.

“They have two famous ex-players as coaches so we should be very aware of that. England never played Latvia so this is a new experience for all of us.

“And then we have, of course, Andorra where we are huge favourites but we have to qualify, this is the most important thing and this is where all the focus goes so there cannot be any other approach than to take it seriously take it with respect and make it happen before we can dream the dream.

“England has the players, the talent and the characteristics to go far but now first of all we have to prove it in the qualifiers. It gets closer and closer, there are gaps between the big nations and the smaller nations, closes in all the time in every tournament.

“You see the same effect that it gets more and more difficult to win your games. So first of all, we have to show full respect and make sure that we reach our top level from March when it starts and that’s, of course, our job.”