The Scout assesses Chelsea star’s data under Liam Rosenior and if he can sustain his great form in the tougher fixtures that follow

The Scout analyses Cole Palmer’s (£10.6m) performances under Liam Rosenior and whether it is worth bringing in the midfielder in Fantasy Premier League for a plum home fixture against Burnley in Gameweek 27, before a tougher run of fixtures.

Palmer is a major target for managers in Fantasy ahead of Saturday’s 13:30 GMT deadline after he returned to form with a hefty 32 points over the last two Gameweeks. 

The Chelsea midfielder is the second most-bought player for Gameweek 27, earning 165,000+ new owners for his very favourable home match against Burnley.

Palmer scored four goals and supplied an assist over those encounters with Wolverhampton Wanderers and Leeds United, with hauls of 20 and 12 points showing why he has to be among the top captain picks for the upcoming round of matches.

So should you prioritise transferring in Palmer this week? Here, The Scout investigates.

Why is Palmer scoring more goals?

Palmer has now amassed 43 points in his four appearances under Chelsea’s new head coach Liam Rosenior, thanks to five goals and an assist.

Before any analysis of his personal statistics, it has to first be acknowledged that as many as FOUR of those goals were converted penalties, with Palmer’s third and final goal of his hat-trick against Wolves his only goal from open play.

Remarkably, the Blues have been awarded five penalties in Rosenior’s five matches at the helm, with Enzo Fernandez (£6.9m) converting from the spot in Palmer’s absence against Crystal Palace in Gameweek 23.

By comparison, Chelsea were awarded only two penalties across the opening 21 Gameweeks. 

A look at the table below shows why this recent run has to be considered an anomaly and is very unlikely to continue. 

Indeed, Chelsea – along with Brentford – are one of only two sides who have been awarded more than five penalties all season.

Most penalties awarded, 2025/26

Club
GW1-21
GW22-26
Total 

Brentford
7
1
8

Chelsea
2
5
7

Brighton
5
0
5

Crystal Palace
4
1
5

Leeds
4
1
5

Newcastle
4
1
5

Scroll across on mobile to see the full table

Have Palmer’s underlying numbers improved under Rosenior?

Palmer’s improving pitch time is one of the major takeaways under Rosenior.

He has played 90 minutes in three of his four outings for the new head coach – having already scored a first-half hat-trick against Wolves, he was replaced on the hour-mark in the other.

That’s in stark contrast to his outings under Rosenior’s predecessor, Enzo Maresca. In his nine appearances for the Italian, Palmer played 90 minutes just once – in Gameweek 1 against Crystal Palace.

An initial look at Palmer’s displays under the two head coaches indicates that he’s becoming more influential and has been given more freedom by Rosenior.

Both his minutes per pass received and minutes per touch have sped up, while his 18 dribbles and six successful dribbles in four matches for Rosenior were identical to his totals in nine matches for Maresca.

Palmer under Maresca and Rosenior

 
Maresca (GW1-19)
Rosenior (GW22-26)

Mins/touch
1.6
1.4

Mins/pass received
2.5
2.2

Dribbles
18
18

Succ. dribbles
6
6

*Caretaker boss Calum McFarlane was in charge for Chelsea in Gameweeks 20-21

An assessment of Palmer’s attacking statistics shows that his displays have improved on a match-by-match basis for Rosenior.

His five shots against Leeds in Gameweek 26 equals his season-high total, as do his three shots in the box across each of the last two Gameweeks.

Again, it’s worth bearing in mind that his penalty duties, meanwhile, account for four of the seven big chances – situations where a player is expected to score – over those four outings. 

As you can see from the table below, it’s Palmer creative display against Leeds that looks the most encouraging of all. 

He failed to create a single chance in his first three outings for Rosenior, against Brentford, West Ham United and Wolves. But he supplied four of them for his team-mates versus Leeds, the most he’s managed in a single match this season.

Even more surprisingly for a player of Palmer’s calibre is that prior to Gameweek 26, he had failed to create a single big chance all season. Having supplied two of them against Leeds, his upturn in potential for assists is obvious.

Palmer’s appearances under Rosenior

 
GW22
GW24
GW25
GW26

Shots 
2
3
3
5

Shots in box
1
2
3
3

Big chances
1
1
3
2

Chances created
0
0
0
4

Big chances created
0
0
0
2

Scroll across on mobile to see the full table

Certainly, Burnley’s defensive data on the road could barely be more encouraging for Palmer this weekend.

In away matches, the Clarets have conceded a league-high 32 goals and are without a clean sheet in 13 outings. They have allowed their opponents 40 big chances, just over three per match.

What is Chelsea’s schedule like?

Rosenior’s side visit leaders Arsenal in Gameweek 28 and follow that with another testing trip to Aston Villa.

Those tough back-to-back encounters are reflected by the Fixture Difficulty Ratings (FDR) in the table below. The difficulty of each fixture is ranked from one to five, with one being the easiest possible match and five being the hardest.

After that, however, Palmer has to come back into the captaincy conversation at home to Newcastle United, who have one clean sheet across their last 10 away league matches.

Meanwhile, Chelsea’s visit to Everton is among only eight fixtures taking place in Blank Gameweek 31 (BGW31) and is another plus point for Palmer, particularly in a Gameweek when Arsenal and Manchester City‘s big-hitters will be among those without a match and will therefore score zero points.

Chelsea’s fixtures, GW27-31

GW
Opp.
FDR*

27
Burnley (H)
2

28
Arsenal (A)
5

29
Aston Villa (A)
4

30
Newcastle (H)
3

31
Everton (A)
3

*1=easiest possible fixture, 5=hardest possible fixture

So, is Palmer worth bringing in against Burnley?

As the season numbers show, Chelsea’s run of penalties cannot be maintained and this has to be a big factor when assessing Palmer’s captaincy prospects, in particular.

If he’s easy to bring in via free transfers, then Palmer’s all-round display against Leeds – added to Burnley’s away data – suggests he could be getting back to his best and is worth transferring in.

But if you’re needing to take hits to free up the cash, then it lessens the appeal considerably, bearing in mind that Arsenal match that follows.

From a long-term point of view, though, Palmer’s growing influence and upturn in dribbles are encouraging aspects here and an indication that Rosenior, unlike his predecessor, will allow the England international to be expressive in possession.

Palmer, after all, was the top-scoring player in 2023/24 Fantasy in his one and only season under Mauricio Pochettino, and there was a feeling that his attacking instincts were somewhat reined in by Maresca’s tactics.

Certainly, the potential re-emergence of the Chelsea star as a strong armband pick would add further weight to the argument of going against Erling Haaland (£14.9m) with the captaincy right now. 

The Norwegian has managed just one double-figure haul over the last nine Gameweeks and, in contrast to Palmer, his minutes have recently been managed due to a knee issue.

That reduction in pitch time is partly why Haaland has been outscored by Antoine Semenyo (£7.9m) by 33 points to 24 over the last five Gameweeks since the latter joined Man City from AFC Bournemouth.

At a point when big-hitters Bruno Fernandes (£9.8m) and Gabriel (£7.1m) are both proving more reliable captain picks than Haaland, the addition of Palmer to this list would surely persuade more managers to go against the Norwegian or even consider selling him, should they be willing to take the risk of going without the 68-per cent owned Man City star.