Fulham 2-3 Chelsea: Cole Palmer goes viral with his performance and post match interview
Cole Palmer goes viral with his performance and post match interview after Chelsea beat Fulham 3-2 in the last game of the opening weekend.
The 24 year old, who was left out of England’s World Cup squad this summer, has used the time to get back to his best, and boy was he on Monday night.
It was a man-of-the-match performance from Palmer, who had to be taken off due to cramp towards the end of the game.
Joao Pedro put Chelsea ahead after 31 seconds, before Joshua King pulled Fulham level just over 20 minutes later.
Morgan Rogers marked his debut by restoring Chelsea’s lead, before Palmer made it three. Gonzalo Garcia
Garcia got a consolation after an error from Blues keeper Robert Sanchez.
The game also saw Enzo Fernandez booed when coming on for Romeo Lavia, over his antics in Argentina’s win against England at the World Cup.
Sky Sports’ Gary Neville:
“Look, maybe it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to Cole Palmer, because maybe his career is just drifting a little bit and he gets a massive kick up the backside. Sometimes my dad used to say to me, you need to kick up the backside and a reminder in life that you’ve got to basically retain that hunger every single minute of every single day.
“A point midway through my career, where I dropped off for about a year and a half and all of a sudden, you just get a reality check and you realise things don’t come easy, and you’ve got to maintain that standard.
“That tonight was the old Cole Palmer, that we were used to seeing complete years ago a year or so ago. And he is unbelievable to watch. That is the best performance I’ve seen all weekend. It makes you smile every time you watch someone like that, and he’s a brilliant player.”
Cole Palmer speaking to Sky Sports:
“Did you not watch the game? I’m only joking, I’m ready. It was a difficult season with injuries and whatnot but through the summer and since I’ve been back I’ve worked extra hard. Obviously with the injuries I’ve had to try and prevent them and work extra hard day in, day out. I know the talent I’ve got so I can put in performances like that.”
“Normally I’m not an emotional person, the people who know me know I’m not usually bothered about things in life, but over the summer I rested, I recharged and yeah I’m ready and I’m hungry.”
Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso:
“It has been a really intense game. We know what it takes to win away games. But we have managed well to suffer, to compete, to do whatever it takes in certain moments and that’s why it feels great.
“The early goal helped to get confidence. We had chances to score the second one before their equaliser but we were quite stable, quite comfortable even without the ball. We were a threat, the three strikers combining well and creating chances.
“To win games away you need to roll up you sleeves, fight and defend your goal and it’s something we need to do for the future. It’s a good first day for us.
“Once they get the flow and connect well we know they can create many chances. They have this talent. But not just talent, they have good team work.
“A good start but we need to help them. It’s not that we rely everything on them. The whole team needs to have stability, to have control, to have quality, to have toughness to reach them in the best possible positions.
“It’s not about talking about individuals, their situations. It’s about understanding what it takes.
“For sure, the first goal we can do better than that. But it’s a process. It’s day one. And normally it’s easier to learn with three points.”
“We made some mistakes that we CANNOT make” 😕
Alvaro Arbeloa reflects on Fulham’s performance against Chelsea 🎙️ pic.twitter.com/2OYVeGxOwU
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) August 24, 2026
“We played this way because the supporters were behind us and we felt that energy and confidence.” 🛡️
Álvaro’s assessment of this evening’s match. 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/ckfzvjmTKf
— Fulham Football Club (@FulhamFC) August 24, 2026
Fulham boss Alvaro Arbeloa:
“It’s a new project. Time is something we coaches don’t have. But if we continue to play in that way, we’re going to win a lot of games.
“I’m really happy and proud of my players, what I saw from them. This is the way I want to play. And we’re going to play [this way] no matter who is in front of us.
“We made some mistakes we cannot make. When you play against a team like Chelsea with these top players and you concede that mistake they are going to punish you. It’s a good lesson for us.”
