Chelsea hat-trick hero Cole Palmer admitted he was still figuring out how to deal with the frustrations of working through injury.
There was little sign of the England forward being encumbered on Saturday at Molineux as he scored three goals in the first half to send Wolves to a 3-1 defeat and hand Liam Rosenior a fourth Premier League win from his first four games.
It was Palmer’s fourth Blues hat-trick in the league, moving him ahead of Frank Lampard, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Didier Drogba and was a stand-out performance of a season that has seen him struggle with a groin problem.
“I’ve never been injured before in my career,” the 23-year-old said. “This is something new to me and I’m still finding out how to deal with it.
“It has been frustrating, I don’t feel like I’ve played a game this season fully fit. I’ve been going into games thinking can I do certain things, can I not? Overthinking it.
“I’m not here to make excuses and I’ll get over the injuries. I know what I can do when I’m fit and hopefully I can get back to that soon. For now I just manage it and get there.”
As well as issues with fitness, Palmer’s season has been marred by speculation he is homesick and wants to return to Manchester, whilst Chelsea’s strict regime of managing the game time of players returning from injury has made a run of matches difficult.
Three goals to take him beyond the 50 mark since joining from Manchester City in 2023 will have done wonders to restore normalcy around Palmer, who looked back to his free-scoring best against Championship-bound Wolves, who were abysmal in the first half.
Ridiculous penalties gifted by Matt Doherty and Yerson Mosquera presented Palmer with two goals – the first celebrated by covering his ears in response to reports he is unsettled – before he slammed in a third at the end of a flowing move.
“It feels good to get three points and score some goals,” he said. “It was a good one in difficult conditions today. As long as I can keep scoring hat-tricks, I’m happy.
“I think we did well in the first half. The second half was a bit flat but personally it feels good to get back on the scoresheet.
“I don’t really pay attention to milestones but when you see them it’s nice.”
Wolves remain 18 points adrift of the safety mark and though they improved after the break and scored a consolation through Tolu Arokodare, they limped to a 19th league defeat of the season.
“We started good but gave away two easy penalties,” said Arokodare. “I think if they didn’t get those early goals, maybe the game would have been different.
“We had a way better second half. We were more compact, better offensively, but that’s how we should have started and ended the game.
“It didn’t go how we wanted it to go.”
