What Enzo Fernandez did moments after Chelsea win and Cole Palmer's brilliant six-word clapback

Those who have had the pleasure to speak to Cole Palmer in a professional capacity know that his answers to questions are often unpredictable.

Sometimes Palmer will appear disinterested and other times, he will deliver a fantastic line that will crack the interviewer up. On Monday night, after Chelsea's 3-2 victory against Fulham at Craven Cottage, it was very much the latter.

After Sky Sports asked him, 'how ready are you for the season?', Palmer responded with: "Did you not watch the game?". It was a light-hearted show of confidence from Chelsea's No.10, but equally a completely valid response. It was then followed with, "I'm only joking", before he added: "I'm ready, you know.

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"It was a difficult season with injuries and whatnot but through the summer and since I've been back, I've worked extra hard. Obviously with the injuries I've had to try and prevent them and work extra hard day in, day out.

"I know the talent I've got so I can put in performances like that."

Palmer's 2025/26 campaign never got going. A culmination of reasons could be listed to decide why, but the obvious answer has always appeared to be the recurring groin injury he suffered with throughout the season.

Sources described the problem as a 'complex' one and it required day-to-day care and attention. It is still at the back of Palmer's mind, as you can see by the above quote, yet you wouldn't know it judging by Monday night's performance.

After a summer off for Palmer, his first in four years, following his omission from England's World Cup squad, the 24-year-old looked refreshed, reenergised and back to his world-class best. Palmer was majestic when at his best at Craven Cottage, leaving the boisterous away end purring at his quality.

Palmer told reporters in Sydney last month, during the club's pre-season tour, that he got bored after a while of being off over the summer, but it looks to have done him the world of good.

There were a few standout performances for the Blues in SW6 on Monday, but Palmer stood the tallest in Xabi Alonso's frightening attacking line. In Palmer, Morgan Rogers and Joao Pedro, Chelsea might just have the best offensive trio in the Premier League.

Asked about his front three, Alonso said: "They are going to be a very important part of the team. To build around them, no. To build the team with them. They need to take responsibility, they need to lead the rest, they need to inspire the rest, because if they do great, the other ones will follow.

"We need to reach them in the best possible situations. We need to have good links to reach them, and they need to help the team to be solid. I'm happy for the three of them. They have played for the team and they have scored, so it's always important for the strikers."

Alonso will be hoping Palmer avoided anything too serious after he pulled up late on while carrying the ball forward. The former Manchester City man signalled to the bench immediately after that he wanted two more minutes to try and run it off but Alonso, without hesitation, called Estevao Willian up from the dugout to replace him.

It didn't look like anything too serious. Palmer was in good spirits alongside Rogers, who was brought off at the same time as his best mate, on the bench afterwards. The Chelsea star was then his usual laid-back self in his post-match interview, where he was rightly handed Sky Sports' Player of the Match award.

Speaking to reporters post-match, Alonso said this on Palmer: "I'm very happy for Cole, because I have really enjoyed seeing him playing with this dynamism, with this freedom, with this responsibility, helping the team, feeling important and we need that for the team. If Cole feels this way, we will have a better team, a better Chelsea, so I'm happy for him that he has enjoyed his game. You could see that."

Fernandez's telling full-time moment

Alonso was also asked, inevitably, about Enzo Fernandez and his future. The Argentina international remains a target for Manchester City in the final week of the summer transfer window.

Whether City make an official approach for Fernandez remains to be seen but the noise coming out of the Etihad Stadium suggests that may be the case.

Chelsea are more than happy for Fernandez to be part of Alonso's squad this season if no deal is struck. Alonso brought the 25-year-old on with around 25 minutes of normal time remaining in west London and it was no surprise to hear a chorus of deafening boos from the Fulham faithful.

Whether he's in a Chelsea or Man City shirt, Fernandez will get that virtually everywhere he goes this season.

When the initial outburst of his name being read out died down a bit, you could hear a large portion of the travelling Chelsea supporters chanting, 'oh, Enzo Fernandez, oh, Enzo Fernandez'. Nine days after he was booed and cheered at Stamford Bridge, it seemed, albeit the press box is a considerable way away from the away end, that the Blues fans had their midfielder's back.

In the immediate aftermath of Chelsea's victory, the players went over, as usual, to the away end to applaud them for their support and to celebrate the win. Fernandez stood there, hands on hips, while some supporters chanted his name.

A smile then grew on Fernandez's face as he picked out one person in the crowd to wave at before sticking his thumb up towards the fan. Fernandez, though, wasn't there for too long.

The Argentine was the first player to start making his way down the Craven Cottage tunnel while his teammates were soaking in the moment with their supporters. It is worth pointing out: Fernandez gave his shirt to a lucky supporter sitting in the Johnny Haynes Stand on his way to the tunnel.

Either way, Fernandez leaving abruptly is quite telling with everything going on. One could interpret it as Fernandez being ashamed given all the noise that has come from his camp this summer; another could say it means he will be departing in the coming days.

Now, we wait. Regardless, it would have meant a lot to Fernandez to hear the away end chanting his name given the hostility around him coming onto the pitch.

Alonso was quite coy with reporters in his post-match press conference when asked about Fernandez, but the Chelsea manager gave a much more intriguing answer when speaking to BBC's Match of the Day.

"In football, I am not surprised by anything," said Alonso when asked about his midfielder's future. "We will see. My wish is that we know what will happen for the future but we will see this week."

Xabi has some thinking to do

While there is excitement surrounding Chelsea's attack - understandably so - and the amount of goals they are threatening to score this season, there is one glaringly obvious area of concern.

Robert Sanchez was poor despite the Blues getting the job done at Craven Cottage. Alonso, admirably, refused to pin the blame on the Spanish goalkeeper for the goals, with the manager criticising the defending in the build-up.

Deep down, though, Alonso will realise that is an area of concern. The first goal, scored by exciting Fulham midfielder Josh King, is Goalkeeping 101: defend the near post. Sanchez got it all wrong and it gifted the hosts a route back into the game and they had Chelsea rattled after that for a bit of the first-half.

The second one is less his fault but it is still below-par goalkeeping. Sanchez saved the initial shot from Timothy Castagne; a save you would expect him to make, comfortably, but he parried it right into the path of Fulham striker Gonzalo Garcia, who headed into an empty net.

Sanchez got away with it in the sense of Chelsea recording all three points, but with Mike Penders waiting in the wings, and likely to be given a run in the Blues' Carabao Cup second round tie at home to Luton Town later this week, there is serious pressure on the former Brighton shot-stopper.

Chelsea sources have insisted throughout the summer transfer window that there are no plans to sign a new goalkeeper, despite links with Diogo Costa from Porto and Aston Villa's Emi Martinez.

Jamie Carragher, speaking on Sky Sports' Monday Night Football coverage, claimed Chelsea will "never win the league" with Sanchez as their No.1 goalkeeper: "We're not saying anything we haven't said for the past three seasons. Chelsea will never win the league with Sanchez in goal - impossible, it can't happen.

"When you think of the teams who have won the title, the last three have all changed their goalkeeper; Pep [Guardiola] brings Ederson in, Alisson comes in for Liverpool and Arsenal don't win the league if they have [Aaron] Ramsdale in goal and not [David] Raya. Impossible."

Gary Neville shared a similar thought process to his colleague. He said: "Xabi Alonso has been brought in as the manager of the football club, not as the head coach, and when you're managing a football club you have to make some pretty brutal and ruthless decisions.

"They have strengthened in every position of the pitch but you cannot take a chance on goalkeepers. I've said before it's the most difficult position on the pitch, it's the one that carries the most scrutiny and if you have got a goalkeeper who's making mistakes and is anxious, it will undermine everything you're trying to do.

"I think in the next seven or eight days, Alonso will have to make a decision to bring in an experienced goalkeeper because his job is to be successful for Chelsea. He may stick with Sanchez but I think he needs to protect himself."

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