Enzo Maresca finds attacking formula as Chelsea rediscover goalscoring touch in spite of wasteful Cole Palmer | OneFootball

Cole Palmer was poor in front of goal but his team-mates stepped up to help lift mood at Stamford Bridge

Your matchday briefing on Chelsea, featuring team news and expert analysis from Malik Ouzia

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When Chelsea went to Southampton at the start of December and won 5-1, the gap to Liverpool was closed to seven points and the travelling supporters sang of having their club back.

Fast-forward not even three months and with, Liverpool 21 points out of sight and the Blues down in seventh, it was the music of protest that provided the pre-match soundtrack here. Among the 200 or so supporters who gathered outside Stamford Bridge to voice discontent at the club’s ownership, “We want our Chelsea back” was about as polite as it got.

Pedro Neto and Christopher Nkunku profited, delivering the kind of performances that Maresca could really have done with when his forward injury crisis began almost a month ago.

Nkunku had not scored or assisted in a league game since that St. Mary’s rout but delivered one of each here, bundling in a brave back-post header for the opener and laying on a second for Neto before half-time, which even at the stage, had the feel of being decisive.

Neto, leading the line centrally as he had as Aston Villa on Saturday, was excellent, taking only his third league goal of the season in sharp style and then delivering the free-kick from which Levi Colwill added his first in any competition for almost two years.

Cole Palmer missed several big chances to end his goal drought

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With Nicolas Jackson and Noni Madueke not due back until after next month’s international break, Maresca at last looks to have found an attacking formula to see him through. In a welcome development, it does not look entirely dependent on Cole Palmer, whose goal drought extended to six games here and in the process transitioned from the realm of mild quirk to that of genuine comedy.

The bizarre thing is that whatever freak disease has infected the Englishman’s shooting appears to have missed every other element of his game. The runs are still intelligent and purposeful, the touch exquisite, the feet a delightful whirr. Palmer is, in other words, still playing like Cole, but suddenly finishing like Carlton.

The 22-year-old scored four in one half against Brighton here earlier this season and could have matched that tally within the hour.

Twice, he went through on goal and made connection with completely the wrong part of his foot, like a left-handed golfer swinging a right-handed club. On another occasion he was denied by a brilliant block that Aaron Ramsdale looked mystified to have made, perhaps sensing too that the man above might be having some say. By the time Palmer spooned a half-volley over from Nkunku’s cross, with a 3-0 lead already established, even Maresca was seeing the funny side.

The Italian would no doubt prefer his best player to be rattling them in for fun, as he had done almost incessantly from his arrival at the Bridge until a month ago. That Palmer played the full 90 minutes as the rest off Maresca’s front-six were all replaced and youngsters Shim Mheuka and Mathis Amougou made Premier League debuts told you he knows his player’s desperation to get back on the board.

But on Monday, Maresca had again stressed the need for his team to lessen their reliance on their talisman and for once got a response. When was the last time Chelsea won a game in spite of Cole Palmer?