The unseen Cole Palmer moment that proves Chelsea have found their new Eden Hazard

No Palmer, no party. Chelsea aren't a one-man team, but they're probably as close as a side can come to it right now.

Of their 53 league goals this season, 24 have been scored or assisted by Cole Palmer — that's 45%. In all competitions he he been involved in 31 of 79, nearly 40%. For a single player to have this much impact is almost unprecedented. At his age and stage of relative development in senior football, it is better than even the most ardent followers of his career to date could expect.

On a macro level it is sensational — but also damning in another way of the reliance on a 21-year-old that had started just three league games in his senior career before moving to the club. Against Manchester United this all reached a new peak.

Of the 28 shots that Chelsea took, Palmer created 11 of them and took another nine. His goals came from two penalties and a deflected shot inside the area, but the very aura around him commanded attention.

How even a fatigued, bewildered, and distraught Erik ten Hag side managed to leave perhaps the league's most in-form player with acres of space from a short corner that entered the box is inquiry-level stuff.It was always going to be Palmer though, who made the difference for Chelsea.

From the 67th minute, when Alejandro Garnacho completed the first of two miraculous turnarounds in the game, Palmer added energy into the performance with everything he did. From the intangible confidence placed on each touch to the meaning behind his passes, the playing of a strategic game in which he was multiple steps ahead of everyone, it was Palmer or nothing.

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