Chelsea brought excitement, drama and goals as they raced to a 4-2 lead over Brighton & Hove Albion in the first half of Saturday’s clash.
Nobody could fault the vibes in west London as Cole Palmer hit four goals in 20 minutes to put the Blues ahead as they looked to take all three points from their battle with the Seagulls.
But it wasn’t just a one-sided run at Stamford Bridge as both sides battled through the opening 45 minutes.
The action set the pace for the visitors in the opening seven minutes as Georginio Rutter sent a header into the back of the net to give Brighton a first advantage after a mistake by Robert Sánchez.
Brighton ahead, terrible confusion from Chelsea
— Sean Walsh (@SeanDZWalsh) September 28, 2024
GEORGINIO RUTTER SCORES A POWER TO GIVE BRIGHTON THE LEAD AGAINST CHELSEA 🔥
He joined Brighton from Leeds this summer and gets his first goal of the season against Chelsea 🙌 pic.twitter.com/GYlxngo81Q
— Rising Ballers (@RisingBallers_) September 28, 2024
Brighton 1-0. Terrible defending from Chelsea. Georginio Rutter with his first goal for the club.
— CFC_LIL (@cfc_lil) September 28, 2024
Chelseanot satisfied with the idea of following, he went into action, opening the doors for Palmer. His first of four first-half goals came off an assist from Nicolas Jackson.
Cole Palmer, Jadon Sancho and Nicholas Jackson lead Chelsea to a title pic.twitter.com/V8Ib5U4HgT
— 𝐭𝐠𝐦. (@TGM_007) September 28, 2024
Cole Palmer x Jackson >>>>> Son x Harry Kane
— Sir Lomo 🇬🇧 (@_DrLomo) September 28, 2024
Haaland did not meet FPL this week? Don’t worry… I have Cole Palmer and Jackson in my FPL 🥶 pic.twitter.com/1OP1VM7m10
— WEEN⏳✨ (@PapiiWeen) September 28, 2024
Within seven minutes, the England international had scored a penalty to give his team the lead. He then scored a direct free kick literally minutes after his second goal.
So Cole Palmer really scored a free kick before Mbappe😭 pic.twitter.com/HhE4lGvkLQ
— 𝐀𝐀𝐀𝐀𝐀𝐀 September 28, 2024
Good grief! Cole Palmer is going crazy here. Not content with his quick-fire brace, he unleashed a brilliant 30-yard free-kick to give himself a first-half hat-trick and Chelsea 3-1 up. What a player! pic.twitter.com/XdMpNPGSBN
— USETVL (@USETVL) September 28, 2024
Absolutely no one:
Cole Palmer scored a penalty, a free kick and two open-play goals in one game. pic.twitter.com/QXP1w2TvFM
— DesmundOris (@Desmund_Oris) September 28, 2024
4 goals in 20 minutes with 2 more scored offside. And a ridiculous free kick. Cole Palmer is a monster
— Silvio Dante (@spiderman1289) September 28, 2024
Brighton bounced back from a Carlos Baleba strike, although their efforts did not silence Chelsea for long…
This Cameroonian Carlos Baleba could be another Brighton 100m project
— Remy (@Remy5913) September 28, 2024
Do you think three is enough? Oh no, Palmer scored again before the break, this time from the assist of new boy Jadon Sancho. As well as breaking the hearts of Brighton fans everywhere, he became the first player to score four goals in a first half.
Cole Palmer sets the record for being the first player to score 4 goals before the break. Amazing performance 🔥🔥🔥 #CHEBHA
— FCBmembers (@banks_bis) September 28, 2024
Cole Palmer 4 goals in the first half pic.twitter.com/ph8ED8bwXZ
— toye (@JegedeToye) September 28, 2024
Cole Palmer in 1 game has more goals (4) than Jude Bellingham and Vinicius (3) combined 😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/JmqWjCiYGY
— FCBGavi (@tuler4) September 28, 2024
Dude I need a breather, Cole Palmer just scored 4 in 40 minutes… I’m speechless! #CFC #CHEBRI
— Dan (@MrDanCFC) September 28, 2024
Chelsea led 4-2 heading into the break, with the crowd almost struggling to understand what was happening.
