Anyone will be delighted being in a redhot form but not Cole Palmer, who has been devastatingly cold since his move to Chelsea from Manchester City, in the summer of 2024.

The England international impressed amidst Chelsea's struggles in his first season, achieving 33 goal contributions in 33 Premier League games, which saw him pick up the Young Player of the Season awards.

He also won every individual award possible at Chelsea. His decoration extends to the London Football awards, where he claimed the Player of the Year as well as winning the goal of the year awards in the most recent edition.

However, his form of late has been somewhat disheartening with the Manchester City Academy alumnus yet to register a goal contribution in the previous seven games across all competitions, with his last goal involvement coming two months ago.

At the start of this drought, Palmer was creating the chances and the big chances but his teammates failed to put them away. Between the start of December and February, the 22-year-old created 32 chances in the league, but had no assist to show for it.

However, recently, he has been frequent on the receiving end of his teammates' playmaking excellence, but has failed to find the back of the net.

Cole Palmer has missed 12 Premier League big chances this season, the second most of any Chelsea player. His form has visibly deteriorated since the injury to Nicolas Jackson at the end of January.

In the club's more recent game against Southampton, where they displayed a dominant attacking performance and won by four goals to nothing, Palmer fired blank, missing four sitters. This has further raised questions about his effectiveness for Enzo Maresca's charge.

Amidst his struggles for form, we take a look at the difference in set up, and the mood at Chelsea leading to Cole Palmer's unusual displays in recent weeks.

Why Cole Palmer is struggling?

Cole Palmer had a season too good to be believable last campaign. One might even be tempted to call him a one season wonder, but a player that started the ongoing season in the same vein, contributing 20 league goals in the opening 19 weeks, is not at all ordinary.

Yet, Enzo Maresca must be having a lot of concerns, not only about his status as the coach but as well about the form of his best player, who has been at the heart of his good fortunes at the club.

After assuming the reins and reuniting with the player he worked with at the Manchester City Academy, the Italian choose to deploy Palmer as an attacking midfielder, pulling the strings with his playmaking and goalscoring prowess.

It worked wonders at the start of the season, with Palmer assisting three goals and scoring once in a 6-2 away win at Wolves in August, in one of his highly rated outings so far this season.

Palmer also write his name in the history books in September, when he scored four first half goals in a 4-2 win over Brighton, becoming the first player in the history of the Premier League to score four first half goals.

Nevertheless, his influence diminish as the season grows, and now he has hit a prolong drought, worse to the extent of falling to score or assist in a big win over Southampton, a team with the worst defensive record in the league.

Why Cole Palmer is struggling?

One would suggest one of the reasons for his struggles is how the team now se up. Last season under Mauricio Pochettino, Palmer was more of a right winger or a right midfielder, and by cutting inside and getting a shot away, came many of his goals.

 Cole Palmer's Premier League heatmap, 2023/24 season 

It is slightly different this season as he plays more centrally, as the No. 10. His inability to take on opposition players in isolation has taken a toll on his productivity.

Cole Palmer's Premier League heatmap 2024/25 season 

Even though he now gets into the danger zone frequently, majority of his season highlights have come on the right, and he started to hit the downslope since the dip in form of the wingers as well as the entire Chelsea attack.

Palmer thrived on cutbacks from wing plays, whether wing backs on the overlap or the attackers laying him the passes to shoot, unfortunately, that has dried up and continues to get drier in recent weeks.

In the absence of Nicolas Jackson, with whom he connects well and has built a great chemistry, Palmer's struggles couldn't be more obvious, and maybe the time has come for Enzo Maresca to make a tough decision to have his main man firing again.

How to get Cole Palmer Firing again?

Subsequently, the regression in form of the team obviously affected the performances of Cole Palmer, albeit he has been the driving force of their good fortunes.

Getting him back at his best again will definitely improve the overall performance and results, so Enzo Maresca may be forced to make some difficult decisions by dropping some underperforming players.

Palmer could be deployed on the flank, limiting room for underperforming wingers and increasing the level of competition, while this allows an extra midfielder or defender, depending on the formation adopted by the manager.

Returning to the flank will allow him the space needed to execute his game rather than through the middle, where it is always very congested in settled play.

Palmer drops too deep when Chelsea build up play from the back, which has also affected his productivity as covering a lot of distance means he is not always in the final third where he is most effective.

Limiting his urge to get involved in build up will allow him do what's most needed of him, while he can also reduce the risk of getting fatigued.

An extra midfielder or defender allows the Englishman stay up top, whether behind the striker or on the wing, where he can receive the ball, beat a man or two and gets a chance to have a go at the goal.

The imminent return of Nicolas Jackson is also expected to get Palmer back to his feet again. Although underrated, the Senegalese striker's contributions to the Chelsea attack can not be overemphasized. Hence, the struggle in his absence.

Playinh in the less competitive Europa Conference League will also do well to restore lost confidence, albeit Chelsea has been handed a considerably tough draw in Copenhagen. Yet, they still retain the favourite status.

It's a tough period around Stamford Bridge at the moment but after a 4-0 win last time out, Chelsea will hope to build on that, and having Cole Palmer back at his usual best will be key to achieving their objectives for the remainder of the season.