Chelsea forward Noni Madueke has called his partnership with Cole Palmer ‘cold and fire’ after the duo’s destruction of Wolves at Molineux.
Madueke scored the first senior hat-trick of his career as Chelsea romped to a 6-2 win on Sunday, with the 22-year-old scoring three times in a 14-minute second-half burst.
Each of Madueke’s three goals were assisted by Palmer, who celebrated being named the 2023/24 PFA Young Player of the Year this week with an outstanding individual performance.
Madueke was delighted to take home the match ball as Enzo Maresca secured his first Premier League win as head coach.
“Today means a lot. I was really just trying to be clever and wait for the right moment,” Madueke told Premier League Productions.
“The system allows us to probe and probe and keep the possession higher up the pitch. Maybe in the first half it was a bit more end to end and then we gained control in the second half.
“The first one was a bit lucky. Second one was all Cole Palmer, two brilliant passes, with the weight of pass I just had to step onto the ball and score. I’m made up for the hat-trick but more made up we won the game.”
Palmer and Madueke have played together for England at u-21 level and showed encouraging signs of an understanding against Wolves. Palmer has earned the nickname ‘Cold’ for his composure and shiver celebrations at Chelsea and Madueke believes he can bring the ‘fire’ to complement his teammate.
“It is unbelievable. He is cold and I am fire so it mixes well. He has the ability to always play a pass at the right time. I like to get the ball in space, beat people and make things happen, so luckily today it worked.”
On Maresca’s first league win, Madueke added: “It is obvious [his approach]. Everyone saw what he did at Leicester last year, he is mad about the details. Even in the first game against City there were some nice patterns of play but we just couldn’t finish it off. It is a great day today, I am happy he has got his first Premier League win for Chelsea and we go onto midweek in Geneva.”
