Cole Palmer was pleased to return from the international break with a victory as he focuses on repaying the faith shown in him by Chelsea with his performances on the pitch after putting pen to paper on a new long-term contract.
The forward signed a new deal committing his future to the Blues until at least 2034 on Saturday, before taking to the Stamford Bridge pitch as part of Xabi Alonso’s starting line-up to face Bournemouth in our first game since the international break.
Palmer and his fellow Blues wasted no time getting back into the swing of things, our No10 setting up Jordan Henderson to open the scoring in the second minute, before Morgan Rogers put us two up straight from the restart.
A Joao Pedro brace and a second from Henderson arrived in the second half to give us an emphatic 5-1 victory over the Cherries in our first home game for nearly a month.
‘It was a great win against a good side,’ said Palmer. ‘We knew it'd be difficult, but we played well.
‘It was a good day, especially having key players back. Having nearly the whole squad back, it was good, and I feel like this was a good start to the next games that we have.’
Palmer also had a hand in Henderson’s second goal, his surging run drawing a foul before providing the decoy run as the veteran midfielder curled a pinpoint free-kick into the top corner, a move he reveals was straight off the training ground.
‘We've just been working on it in training and when it came to it, we were thinking about what to do,’ Cole revealed.
‘But I just said to him: “We've worked on it”. He's done it well in training, so before his shot, I said: “Which corner flag are we running to when you put it in the top corner?".
‘And then we chose a corner flag, then he put it in the top corner, then we ran there. So it was funny. It was a good goal and a good day.’
A 5-1 victory felt like the perfect way to celebrate Palmer’s new contract, announced earlier in the day, with the 24-year-old eager to continue showing Chelsea’s faith in him is well placed.
‘It feels nice,’ said Palmer, when asked about signing the contract. ‘Just thank you to the club for trusting me and I've got to keep repaying them.
‘I just work hard and try to give my best, that's all. I feel back to how I was and it's only early in the season, so just keep going.
‘It's still early with the manager and he's still trying to get his ideas across, but we're starting to adapt and especially this week we've been working on ideas and stuff like that, so it's been good.’