“I like Palmer in the middle” – Chelsea influencer on the best way to get Chelsea’s two best technical creators in the team

Chelsea have a deep squad with tons of options. That has been a huge benefit for manager Enzo Maresca, who has been able to play a B team in the cup competitions, keeping his first team fresh for the league.

However that much depth creates its own problems, especially when the team is doing well. A great example is emerging now, with £100m man Enzo Fernandez currently relegated to the B team and unable to find a space in the league side.

There are increasing calls for him to be used in Cole Palmer’s role, with Palmer pushed out to the right hand side. Noni Madueke’s strong start to the season has faded a little, and fans are keen to somehow get the creative feet of both Enzo and Palmer into the same team, without losing the stable base of Romeo Lavia and Moises Caicedo partnered together in the middle.

Phillips on how to get Enzo and Palmer together

One person who has written about this potential switch this week was Simon Phillips on his Substack.

“Palmer has suffered a bit centrally when he is man-marked. So is moving him out the right a good solution for that? A solution that also brings Fernandez back into the starting Xl for league games as he can then line-up in the midfield three with Lavia and Caicedo? If they start all three then it means Enzo plays as a 10, and for me that doesn’t work; he needs to play deeper to be able to affect the game with his passing,” Phillips wrote.

I’ll be honest, I’m very split on all of this. I like Palmer in the middle because I think he can dictate play and control the game more. But I also do see the shouts to move him back to the right and can see the benefits of that as well. Will Maresca do that? I’m not so sure.

It seems that just like us, he’s pretty stuck on the best move to make. We’re very curious to see what Maresca goes with, especially after a draining international break for some of his team.