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Gary Lineker recently shared his thoughts on who the best player on the pitch was when Chelsea and Manchester City faced in the FA Cup semifinal at the Wembley Stadium. The England legend believes that Blues star Cole Palmer outshone his former teammates and could have been Player of the Match.
England international Palmer has come into prominence this season, having only joined the Blues from boyhood club Manchester City in the summer. The 21-year-old has scored 20 Premier League goals in his first season as a regular to top the goalscoring charts alongside Erling Haaland.
Palmer featured against City on the back of a brilliant hat-trick against Everton and showed his capability. Although the Englishman ended on the losing side at Wembley but delivered another impressive performance for the Blues.
Gary Lineker spoke on The Rest is Football Podcast, where he asserted that Palmer performed better than both Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruyne, who was named Player of the Match. The former striker said that ending up on the losing side cost Palmer the award.
“Man City got through but Chelsea are making progress, aren’t they?" Gary Linekar said. "They have got to play a long game at some point at Chelsea, you can’t keep changing things every six months. They are on a decent run, playing better.
“They had good chances yesterday [Saturday] but you have got to stick them away. They have got a bit of a superstar in Cole Palmer, we have talked about him a lot in recent weeks and I thought he was probably the best player on the pitch. He didn’t get the Man of the Match because it always seems to have to go to somebody on the winning side.”
Cole Palmer was on the pitch for the entirety of the game, creating a big chance and recording two key passes. The Englishman was involved in his side's attacking endeavors, recording four shots in the game at Wembley.
Cole Palmer adds to Chelsea's headache ahead of Arsenal trip
Chelsea will look to boost their chances of playing European football next season when they visit league leaders Arsenal on Tuesday. Mauricio Pochettino's side may have to go about their business without star forward Palmer, who has been listed as 'ill' on the club's website.
Palmer has provided 20 goals and nine assists in the Premier League this season for the Blues and is their top scorer. The forward found the net in the reverse fixture, a 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge last year.
Chelsea were already set to be without the likes of Reece James, Christopher Nkunku, Romeo Lavia, Levi Colwill, and several others through injury for the Arsenal game. The unavailability of Palmer puts them under a great deal of pressure, especially due to his productivity this season.
