On October 1, 2023, Chelsea have been in dire straits. They have been sitting in 14th within the Premier League by way of six matchweeks, and so they’d scored simply 5 targets. It was arguably one in every of their darkest moments because the pre-Abramovich period. Nevertheless, it will not final lengthy, as precisely one month earlier, they’d signed a promising however untested attacker from Manchester Metropolis named Cole Palmer for simply 40 million kilos.
Palmer’s 22 targets and 11 assists in that season helped them end robust, shedding simply as soon as of their ultimate 15 matches to snag sixth place and a spot within the Convention League. This yr, Chelsea are third within the desk by way of 11 matches, and so they have their sights set on one thing significantly better for this season—as does Cole Palmer, who’s at the moment sitting atop the percentages leaderboard for this yr’s PFA Participant of the Yr award, at +300 betting odds.
Cole Palmer Affords Nice Worth For PFA Participant of the Yr
Participant
Staff
Odds
Cole Palmer
Chelsea
+300
Mohamed Salah
Liverpool
+350
Erling Haaland
Manchester Metropolis
+400
Bukayo Saka
Arsenal
+1,000
Kevin De Bruyne
Manchester Metropolis
+1,600
Final yr, Metropolis’s Phil Foden received the PFA Participant of the Yr award with six fewer aim involvements than Cole Palmer. Nevertheless, whereas Chelsea barely scraped its option to a sixth place end, Metropolis received their fifth PL title in six years below Pep Guardiola. Clearly, you may’t simply be an excellent participant, it’s a must to play for an excellent crew too.
With Chelsea now in a legit combat for the highest 4 and Champions League locations, an analogous season for Palmer this yr must be sufficient to take residence the {hardware}. Palmer had 33 aim involvements in 33 PL appearances in 2023-2024, and this yr, he’s bought 12 in 11. So not solely is Chelsea taking part in significantly better, however Palmer has in some way discovered a option to construct on his otherworldly breakout efficiency final season. He’s additionally spreading out his contributions, serving to out extra within the buildup with 5 assists to go along with his seven targets.
Nevertheless, whereas he’s at the moment atop the leaderboard, his perch up there’s perilous, to say the least. Three of the opposite 4 gamers within the prime 5 have received the award over the past 4 seasons. In actual fact, KDB, Haaland, and Salah mixed to win this award 5 of six instances from 2018-2023. The betting odds for Palmer, Haaland, and Salah are particularly tight.
So tight, in reality, that some on-line sportsbooks would possibly even have Metropolis’s talisman atop their leaderboard relatively than Palmer. Haaland does have already got 12 targets, so he’s about on tempo with what he did final yr, when he misplaced the award to his teammate. If Chelsea can keep within the prime 4 and Palmer maintains his present scoring tempo, he must be a terrific worth guess right here. The truth that he’s the one Englishman within the working (Saka is a methods again) provides him a slight edge too.
Might Palmer Win Premier League Golden Boot Too?
Since Erling Haaland joined the Premier League forward of the 2022-2023 season, he has been past dominant in entrance of the web. In that debut yr, he scored 36 targets in 35 PL matches. The man in second place had 30. Final yr, he regressed a bit, scoring simply 27 league targets. This time, the margin was a tad smaller, as Palmer checked in in 2nd place along with his 22 targets, although his 11 assists gave him extra aim involvements (33) than Haaland (32).
So, the large query is, can Palmer dethrone the mighty manchild they name Erling Haaland and preserve him from successful his third straight Golden Boot? Properly, sportsbooks don’t suppose so proper now, and so they’re not mistaken.
Haaland has 12 already this yr, whereas Palmer has seven and Salah is in there with eight as effectively. Whereas guys like Chris Wooden and Bryan Mbeumo even have eight proper now, we don’t count on them to maintain that tempo up, so it looks like the trio from Metropolis, Liverpool, and Chelsea are actually the one ones competing for this award at this level. Nevertheless, after scoring 10 targets within the first 5 matches, Haaland has solely scored two in his final six PL begins, so he might be exhibiting his mortality as a goalscorer simply as his crew, Metropolis, are doing the identical as PL champions.
Haaland is at -500 odds to win the Golden Boot, with Salah coming in at +750 (which looks like the most effective guess on the board) and Palmer coming in third at +1,200. Whereas Palmer has a terrific shot at successful the PFA Participant of the Yr as the most effective participant total, it’s onerous to guess in opposition to the uncooked numbers of Erling Haaland relating to strictly aim scoring.
