Cole Palmer admits Man Utd tactic stunned him: "I was thinking, what?!"
Cole Palmer scored a hat-trick against Manchester United last season to claim three points against the Red Devils in an exciting stoppage time comeback at Stamford Bridge
by Scott Trotter · The MirrorCole Palmer has revealed his winning strike against Manchester United is his favourite goal but he could not believe the space the Red Devils allowed him.
The 22-year-old hit the ground running at Stamford Bridge after his £42.5million move from Manchester City last summer and became a central figure for the Blues on his way to 22 Premier League goals. None stand out more than his stoppage time winner against United however.
After taking an early lead through Conor Gallagher and a penalty from Palmer, Erik ten Hag's side came back to lead 3-2 thanks to an Alejandro Garnacho brace and Bruno Fernandes goal.
It was the 10th minute of stoppage time before Palmer levelled the scores with a second penalty and another opportunity arrived quickly afterwards. Receiving the ball from a corner, the forward had time for a touch on the corner of the box before striking the ball hard and low through a crowd of bodies to earn Chelsea three points.
"This is my favourite goal," Palmer explained when presented with the strike by Premier League show Uncut. "I just couldn't believe how much time and space I had. When I got the ball, I took a touch and then I took another one and I thought 'where is everyone?'
"Then there was just loads of players there so I thought 'if I shoot on target, hard, I've got a chance'. When I got it, they were all pointing saying 'mark him', and none of them came out."
Was he surprised by the space he had been allowed with seconds remaining? "Yeah, I was thinking, 'what?'"
"I don't even know why I was there, I just went there," he added. "It was a good one."
It was the emotion of the moment that made the goal stand out for Palmer ahead of his other efforts. "You don't even know what to do," he said.
"Just running and then I saw all of the bench coming and I thought they were going to take me out. I went to run to the manager first but then I saw Axel and Benoit and I thought, na, U-turn. So I ran the other way. Just emotion wasn't it? We were losing it was the 96th minute and they were just passing it around us and then we scored two."
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