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Isn't it too early to be putting Chelsea into the title contention or are we just going to act as if we don't see that it is smaller teams that Chelsea has being winning since and haven't played against any strong team. The last time they played against a top team, they lost to Manchester city. Chelsea are improving that isn't a lie but they have alot of work to do before I'll consider them one of the favourites to win the premier league. I am happy for Chelsea as they're no longer giving mid table teams free points and now scoring lots of goals but they should be ready to put on the same performance when they face teams like Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham and Manchester United.
That was what I thought too when I read some of the posts here. Palmer had the day of his life and these things occur very sporadically.
They behaved quite amateurish when they conceded first goal. Their own first goal was lucky because the Brighton defender made a huge mistake. Chelsea's second goal was well played with a bit of luck, but ok, it was well played and correctly awarded with the penalty. Then Palmer scores a goal that he maybe scores once, maximum twice a season. Then another huge mistake made by the Chelsea goalkeeper and I think these individual mistakes are one of their biggest problem as they happen too often. Then last goal was well played again and Palmer proved that he can be a great finisher.
But it's still more an outlier than the rule what Chelsea has shown here and they should be able to handle these games more calmly and securely, but they could fall apart any moment if Palmer doesn't have a day like he had this time.
This isn't the summary for a team that is going to win the Premier League title, but I agree that they might be able to finish this season with a better rank and that has also to do with the other teams not being at their best.