Cole Palmer's ex-Man City teammate sends perfect two-word verdict after Chelsea hat-trick

Cole Palmer's former Manchester City teammate Aymeric Laporte has insisted he was always confident in the forward's ability after a stunning first half for Chelsea vs Everton.

The 21-year-old opened the scoring on 13 minutes as he held off several challenges to curl a brilliant effort beyond Jordan Pickford. His second of the evening came just five minutes later as a parried effort looped up perfectly for Palmer to head home.

However, the best was saved until last as just before the half-hour mark Palmer capitalised on a poor clearance from Pickford to chip the England international from just inside the Everton half. Palmer added his fourth on Monday night from the penalty spot which moved him up to joint-first with former City teammate Erling Haaland at the top of the current Golden Boot standings.

Palmer's display this evening has impressed a lot of onlookers this evening including Laporte who now plays for Al Nassr after also leaving the Etihad Stadium in the summer. Initially reacting to the winger's first half hat-trick, the centre-back tweeted: «Wow kid,» accompanied by the cold emojis.

When asked by a follower if he was impressed, Laporte replied: «I didn’t wait until today, talented kid.» Finally, when quizzed about where he could see Palmer going in his career, the defender jokingly replied: «London for now.»

Palmer's display threatened to be overshadowed before he took the penalty for his fourth. A disgruntled Nicolas Jackson tried to take the ball for the spot kick but was overruled by captain Conor Gallagher leading to him being pushed away.

Lineker's glowing Palmer verdict

Chelsea player ratings vs Everton

Thankfully this was smoothed over following the goal as the striker begrudgingly congratulated the