Cole Palmer will have annoyed Roy Keane with his behaviour before Chelsea clash with Man City

Cole Palmer was all smiles as he returned to his former club Manchester City for a Premier League showdown with Chelsea on Saturday evening.

Having spent over a decade at City's academy before moving to Chelsea last summer, the 21-year-old has been a top performer at Stamford Bridge, scoring 14 goals and providing nine assists in 31 appearances for Mauricio Pochettino's team. As he prepared to start the match for Chelsea against the reigning Premier League champions, he was warmly greeted by several of his old teammates in the tunnel.

However, such pre-match interactions have previously drawn criticism from figures like Sky Sports pundit Roy Keane, who was notably unimpressed when Andre Onana and Aaron Ramsdale were seen embracing ahead of a Manchester United v Arsenal match back in September.

Keane, who was analysing the match for Sky Sports, bemoaned the fact that players act far differently nowadays, saying at the time: «You were going to war, you were going to battle. That was what it was about. I am looking at the tunnel there, everyone thinks I am old school but I don't know why you'd be chatting to people you are just about to go into battle against.

»You are going to be kicking lumps out of each other. Why are you shaking hands? I'd shake hands after the game but not before the battle."

Palmer made a total of 41 appearances for Pep Guardiola but was far from a regular under the Spaniard. The Manchester City chief explained that he gave Palmer his blessing to move on ahead of their reunion at the Etihad. Guardiola said: «For young players, we always want them to stay but this is normal. After two or three seasons he wanted more minutes than he had the last season. I understand completely.

Chelsea player ratings vs Man