Chelsea 1-1 Inter Milan
Walking back to the tube along Fulham Road after Chelsea’s 1-1 friendly draw with Inter Milan in front of a packed house, it was pretty clear who the Blues fans’ No1 hero is this season.
Replica shirts with PALMER 20 on the back have outsold everything else in the Chelsea club shop, and when new Blues manager Enzo Maresca gave Cole a run out in the second half the cheers were deafening.
Palmer - late back to training after his duties at the Euros - duly centred a free kick in the dying seconds of an entertaining match to allow fellow sub Lesley Ugochukwu to equalise, cancelling out Marcus Thuram’s fiery volley into the Chelsea net in the first half.
Maresca’s team gets full marks for effort after the draw with the Italian champions ahead of this weekend’s start to the season, although at times ‘friendly’ seemed the wrong description. Full-blooded tackles led to ref Sam Barrott showing four yellow cards, with the Blues' Marc Cucurella and Levi Colwill having their names taken.
It was hot enough to fry an egg on metal surfaces at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, hitting 40 degrees pitchside and even exceeding that as the pre-match pyrotechnics blasted jets of flame into the air.
It is astonishing how everything now pivots around Chelsea' young playmaker, and it will be fascinating to see how Palmer, who turned 22 in May, performs against his old club, Manchester City, on Sunday when the Premier League gets underway again.
Maresca gave a start to new Spanish forward Marc Guiu (pronounced Ghee-oo) against Inter. He showed grit and determination in front of goal, nearly dispossessing the Italians' keeper Yann Sommer at one point.
Jackson came on for Guiu in the second half, while one of Maresca’s old Leicester City favourites, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, started the game. At half-time new signing Pedro Neto, who joins from Wolves, was paraded, leading Maresca to confess afterwards: “I still don’t know my team yet!”
Fans feel exactly the same! However, signs are positive once all the newcomers bed in. The gaffer gave everyone Monday off before six days of intensive preparation ahead of City’s visit.
The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and unless specifically stated are not necessarily those of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.
