Our review of each member of the squad’s campaign concludes with a detailed look at our attacking players.
We’ve already been through the rest of the team one by one, from goalkeepers to midfielders, and now we finish with the Chelsea forwards, in order of minutes played in 2024/25, including our summer at the FIFA Club World Cup.
The criteria for eligibility in this assessment is that players finished the season in our Club World Cup squad and played at least one competitive game.
Cole Palmer
Total appearances: 52 (47 starts)
Minutes played: 4,247
Goals: 18
Assists: 14
Expectations were high on Palmer following his stellar debut campaign for Chelsea, rewarded with a two-year extension to his contract. It looked like he was set to pick right up where he’d left off, as his stunning lob against Wolverhampton Wanderers won the August Premier League Goal of the Month award.
In September, Cole became the first player ever to score four times in the first half of a Premier League game, in a win over Brighton & Hove Albion. By the end of December he had set new club records for goals scored and goal involvements in a calendar year.
A rare spell without goals arrived in early 2025, but come the business end of the season Palmer showed himself to be the man for the big occasion. A brilliant performance in the UEFA Conference League final win over Real Betis was followed by his starring role at the Club World Cup, most notably two top-class goals in the final against Paris Saint-Germain.
Pedro Neto
Total appearances: 51 (39 starts)
Minutes played: 3,385
Goals: 9
Assists: 9
The Portuguese winger was eased into the starting line-up following his arrival from Wolves, but his importance to the team soon became clear as he was one of the few players to feature prominently in both our Premier League and Conference League campaigns during the first half of the season.
He was also used on occasion as a central striker, during the absence of Nicolas Jackson and Marc Guiu in early 2025. Regardless of his position, Neto often saved his best for the derbies, with memorable goals against Arsenal and West Ham United, as well as a strike at Fulham which was as spectacular as it was vital to our UEFA Champions League qualification chances.
Neto was another who impressed as our season was extended by the Club World Cup, starting all but one of our seven games in the USA and scoring in his first three appearances, making him our joint-top scorer at the tournament.
Nicolas Jackson
Total appearances: 37 (31 starts)
Minutes played: 2,535
Goals: 13
Assists: 6
For the second season in a row, Jackson hit double figures for goals in the Premier League, with only Palmer netting more in that competition for Chelsea in 2024/25. That was helped by an excellent first half of the campaign which saw him reach nine goals before Christmas, including a brace on his 50th Blues appearance at West Ham.
A hamstring injury in February halted that momentum, but he returned to the score sheet with some important goals towards the end of the season. His first Premier League goal of 2025 arrived against Everton, followed quickly by two in the Conference League semi-final win over Djurgarden, then another in the final itself.
Christopher Nkunku
Total appearances: 48 (25 starts)
Minutes played: 2,326
Goals: 15
Assists: 5
Despite mostly featuring from the bench in the Premier League, Nkunku managed three goals in that competition, and got his first Chelsea hat-trick in the 5-0 League Cup win over Barrow.
The French forward’s most significant contribution to our season came in the cup competitions, especially the Conference League. He was our top scorer in Europe, finding the net seven times in 11 games en route to the final.
He also put in some strong showings at the Club World Cup, appearing in all but one of our games, including coming off the bench to help see out the victory against PSG in the final.
Tyrique George
Total appearances: 26 (10 starts)
Minutes played: 1,153
Goals: 3
Assists: 5
The Academy winger’s senior debut came early in the 2024/25 season, as a substitute in the second leg of the Conference League qualifying play-off away at Servette. Further appearances from the bench followed in that competition and the League Cup, before his first start, in the 8-0 win over Noah.
George graduated to the men’s squad full-time in December and began to become more involved in the Premier League. He scored his first league goal with a crucial equaliser away at Fulham, shortly after netting in the Conference League quarter-finals.
Marc Guiu
Total appearances: 16 (7 starts)
Minutes played: 619
Goals: 6
Assists: 0
The teenage striker’s first season at Chelsea saw him contribute six goals in our triumphant Conference League campaign. Only Nkunku managed more for the Blues and, with all of Guiu’s goals coming after the qualifying rounds, that made him the competition proper’s third-highest scorer overall.
The Spaniard became the second-youngest player to score a hat-trick for Chelsea when he netted three times in the first half against Shamrock Rovers. Injury kept him out for much of the second half of the campaign, but he returned as a substitute in our Conference League final win over Real Betis.
Liam Delap
Total appearances: 6 (4 starts)
Minutes played: 307
Goals: 1
Assists: 1
Delap joined Chelsea from Ipswich Town in June and was immediately named in our squad for the Club World Cup. He made an instant impact in the USA, coming off the bench to make his debut against LAFC and providing the cross for Enzo Fernandez to score our second goal.
He got on the score sheet himself for the first time in Blue in our final group game, shortly before half-time, as we defeated Esperance de Tunis 3-0 in Philadelphia.
Joao Pedro
Total appearances: 3 (2 starts)
Minutes played: 163
Goals: 3
Assists: 0
Chelsea were already midway through our Club World Cup campaign when the Brazilian joined from Brighton, but he went straight into the squad to make his debut off the bench in the quarter-final against Palmeiras.
Joao Pedro’s brilliant introduction arrived in the semi-finals, when he scored both our goals to secure victory over Fluminense and book our place in the final, where he found the net again to make it 3-0 against Paris Saint-Germain.