Cole Palmer says Chelsea “need to kick on” after narrowly beating Fulham in the Premier League at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
The 21-year-old scored the only goal of a drab game, converting from the penalty spot deep into added time of the first half after Raheem Sterling was fouled in the box.
“Fulham are a good team, we knew it wasn’t always going to be easy, we knew we had to be strong and fight, and we were and thankfully we got three points,” Palmer told BBC Match of the Day.
Victory in the West London Derby was the perfect for the Blues following the midweek defeat to Middlesbrough in the first leg of the EFL Cup semi-final, a game in which Palmer missed three gilt-edged chances.
“It happens, it is one of those games,” he said. “It is what it is. I just wanted to put it behind me and be brave in front of the net. Thankfully I scored. Everyone knows as a player you can have those games and you’ve just got to put it behind you.”
Chelsea have now won three Premier League games on the bounce, moving them up to eighth in the table. It’s a run of form that Palmer describes as “crucial” to their hopes of having a strong second half to the campaign.
He said: “There isn’t many games in the league this month but we know we need to get points on the board because our position in the league is poor so we know we need to kick on. We know we’ve got talent in the changing room so we just need to put that on the pitch.
“We create chances, everybody knows that, but some games we’re just lacking that pass in the crucial moment. We can improve on that and when we get that right we’ll score a lot more goals.”
