THE final episode of the Cole Palmer show (£6million) was one of the best yet.
The Chelsea talisman collected 25 points against Tottenham on Sunday to emphatically underline his Dream Team pedigree.
Admittedly, he was helped by mindless fouls from Spurs midfielders Yves Bissouma (£2.5m) and Pape Matar Sarr (£3m), which earned the visitors two penalties at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
But Palmer's penalties, the second of which was a daring Panenka, told only half of his performance.
The 22-year-old was given a 'fantasy assist' by stats provider Opta for his decisive hand on Enzo Fernandez's £4.3m goal, which put the Blues ahead in the second half.
As if three goals weren't enough, Palmer also earned five bonus points, the maximum available for one match, through four successful dribbles, four fouls won, three accurate crosses, one interception and a 79% completion rate.
Ultimately, Palmer finished the weekend as the best player of Gameweek 14 by a wide margin of ten points. Bryan Mbeumo (£4m) is his closest rival at this stage with 15 points.
More broadly, the former Manchester City youngster is now averaging 11.1 points per game this season, the highest average of any player.
Palmer is clearly a special talent and so the question must be asked: should Dream Team managers break one of the golden rules of the game to accommodate him?
In general, every gaffer should try to target as many matches as possible in search of enough points.
This is one of Dream Team's most prominent commandments, for the simple reason that more games equals more point-scoring opportunities.
If Player A averages 8.5 points per game and Player B averages 6.2 points per game, then the former is likely the better option in a one-game shootout.
However, if player A is scheduled to play three matches in the next three gameweeks, while player B is scheduled to play five, the latter will likely earn more points over the given period.
It doesn't always work that way because there are other factors to take into account, but the logic is clear.
Ahead of the start of this season, it looked like Palmer would be a vital signing as the prospect of him supplementing his league winnings with Thursday night points thanks to mismatches in the Conference League was hugely attractive.
However, Enzo Maresca has chosen to manage the workload of his star player.
Palmer was not even included in Chelsea's European squad for the league stage and he did not play in the Carabao Cup before the club's exit at the hands of Newcastle.
This approach has paid off as the league regulars have remained fresh, while the second tier players have enjoyed themselves in the Conference League.
While Maresca's rotation policy has put the West Londoners on course for a successful season, Dream Team bosses have been left to fantasize about what could have happened if Palmer had also tried his hand in the extra competitions.
He has the highest average points per game, but having played just 15 games, he is currently behind Mohamed Salah (£7.6m), Erling Haaland (£8.5m) and Bukayo Saka (£6. 7 million) in terms of total points, as these three stars have all featured in at least twenty games of this campaign.
However, the fact that Palmer is fourth overall despite having only been active in the league is truly remarkable.
Many of the elite Dream Team players tend to completely ignore such players due to their limited schedules, but Palmer is breaking the mold and this Gameweek is a perfect example.
There are seven relevant European matches taking place this week, but how many of the players involved will match Palmer's tally of 25 this weekend?
Son Heung-min (£5.2m) is the closest player with a chance, but he will need to save 13 points for Rangers on Thursday night to move level with Palmer.
Gaffers should continue to focus on the extra competitions, but if there was ever a player to break the golden rule, it's Chelsea's main man.
And it goes without saying that Palmer will be an indispensable asset from Gameweek 16 onwards, when the focus over Christmas and New Year will be purely on the Premier League.
Comments