Enzo Maresca has been without Cole Palmer for the majority of this season, with the Chelsea star only making four appearances so far.
Since arriving at Chelsea, Palmer has been the main man, already making 101 appearances for the club in all competitions, scoring 45 goals and providing 29 assists.
Last season, despite having a rough period at the start of 2025, Palmer was a key component of Maresca’s Chelsea machine. He was directly involved in 32 goals across all competitions, including his two goals and assist in the Club World Cup final.
With his star man currently out through injury and looking likely to be spending more time on the sidelines, Maresca may have to get creative in order to replace the output of Palmer and continue to build momentum after their 2-1 victory against Liverpool.
In this article, we’ll cover
Cole Palmer’s role
The 23-year-old playmaker has a key role in Maresca’s system, looking to receive between the lines, take a high volume of touches and make things happen.
Palmer averaged 3.41 shots per 90 minutes last season, generating 0.49 Expected Goals and creating 2.45 chances.
Maresca’s attacking unit has noticeably missed the quality of Palmer between the lines, but the Italian has plenty of solutions to ride the storm, all of which we have already seen in action.
The efficient option
The first option is Enzo Fernandez. No matter where he is on the pitch, you have an intelligent footballer who can provide the output currently missing with Palmer absent.
Fernandez averaged 0.19 xG per 90 last season, creating 2.35 chances and taking 1.62 shots.
However, this season, in the absence of Palmer, Fernandez has impacting the team in slightly different ways, dropping deeper in the first phase of build up to create overloads on the ball and being Chelsea’s biggest attacking threat in the opposite box.
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Fernandez is averaging 0.54 xG per 90 this season, despite taking fewer shots (1.45 per 90), scoring three goals already this season.
While neither of these qualities are completely abnormal for the Argentine, his importance is more extreme due to change in attacking dynamics this season (Palmer out and multiple forwards leaving the club).
The exciting option
With Fernandez heavily impacting the efficiency for both deep build up and finishing at the opposite end, one aspect not covered is the volume creation.
That’s where the exciting option comes in, Estevao has started this season really strong despite being just 18-years-old, already making nine appearances for the Blues, scoring once and providing one assist.
His creative numbers are also very promising, with the teenager already creating 1.38 chances per 90 and completing 3.79 take-ons per 90.
Estevao has the ability to receive the ball in tight spaces, beat his man 1v1 and create for himself off the dribble or his teammates.
The creative option
The last option, but perhaps the option where Maresca would have to be most creative when assembling the balance of his team, would be the use of Joao Pedro in his familiar number ten position.
While this is completely natural for Pedro who often played behind the striker for Brighton, Maresca has had little choice with his striker selection, with Nicolas Jackson leaving the club this summer and new addition Liam Delap being injured.
Pedro was averaging 6.5 more touches per 90 last season, allowing him to be more creative and impactful in games, creating 1.3 chances compared to just 0.8 for Chelsea this season and taking 1.6 shots per 90 compared to just 1.00 for Chelsea.
The 23-year-old Brazilian can absolutely be effective as a number nine, especially against back four teams, but moving him deeper could be one of the answers for Maresca in order to navigate this Palmer injury.