COLE Palmer netted four goals tonight to inspire Chelsea to a 6-0 English Premier League victory over Everton at Stamford Bridge.
The England midfielder’s fabulous four included a hat-trick inside the first 29 minutes, topped up with a penalty in the second half.
Palmer opened the scoring in the 13th minute with a curling strike after nutmegging Everton defender Jarrad Branthwaite and combining with Senegal striker Nicolas Jackson.
The 21-year-old doubled the lead five minutes later, heading in a rebound after Jackson’s shot had been saved by Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.
The in-form forward completed his hat-trick after intercepting a poor pass from Pickford to lob the England goalkeeper from 40 yards out.
Jackson compounded Everton’s woes just before half-time by volleying in Marc Cucurella’s cut-back, before Palmer added his fourth from the penalty spot in the 63rd minute, although there was a bit of a struggle before he took the ball off Noni Madueke and Jackson to take the spot kick.
Chelsea scored a sixth in the 90th minute when substitute Alfie Gilchrist netted his first goal for the club from a tight angle.
Palmer, who had never scored a league goal before his summer move from Manchester City to Chelsea, has now scored 20 Premier League goals this season, putting him level with Erling Haaland at the top of the Golden Boot race.
He has also become the first ever Chelsea player to score in seven successive Premier League appearances at Stamford Bridge, and he is just the second Chelsea player to score a hat-trick in back-to-back home appearances in the competition after Didier Drogba in May/August 2010.
With the result, Chelsea stretched their Premier League unbeaten run to eight matches and are three points off seventh-placed Manchester United, who currently sit in the Premier League’s last European spot, having played one game fewer.
Everton, who were playing in their first match since receiving a two-point deduction for a second breach of Premier League financial rules, stay 16th, two points above the relegation zone, after the heaviest defeat of Sean Dyche’s managerial career.
