Az From FPL Blackbox Questions Whether It’s Time To Sell Cole Palmer In His Gameweek 29 Tips

Az from FPL Blackbox returns with his latest set of tips ahead of Gameweek 29, this week questioning whether it’s time to part ways with Chelsea star Cole Palmer.

FPL Gameweek 29 Tips: Is It Time To Sell Cole Palmer?

Hopefully you weren’t a fool like me, captaining Palmer for his 1-pointer vs. Leicester while Salah plundered a 15-point return against Southampton.

It’s been a rough time for Palmer, with one assist and no goals across his last seven matches. This is unthinkable from the man who started the season in such impressive form, with 21 goal involvements in 21 matches.

Losing players like Jackson and Madueke has certainly hindered Chelsea, but even with both in the team, the Blues were struggling in the league, with just two wins in eight games before Jackson’s injury in Gameweek 24. So often the talisman for the team and tasked with carrying most of Chelsea’s attacking burden over the last season and a half, many of us thought he would make another step up, but it’s been a tough time for the Englishman.

The Case To Sell

The lack of goals and assists is the main reason, combined with the fact that from an attacking sense, Chelsea are not the force they were at the start of the season. Other than the comfortable win vs. Southampton, it’s hard to a time Chelsea put in a performance that made us really take note of their attackers – having scored two or more goals in just four of their last 12 games.

Palmer is also pricey. He’s the third most expensive player in the game, costing you £10.9m of your budget. At a time when we are looking inquisitively towards a certain Erling Haaland, freeing up funds might be the priority for many FPL managers.

Looking at the form table of points from the website, Palmer sits below Caicedo, Lindstrom, Gravenberch and Smallbone to name but a few. All of these players are undoubtedly terrible FPL picks but are bringing in the same number of points as Palmer for less than half the price. Yikes.

We will also be looking to fill our teams with potential Double Gameweek players from Gameweek 32, with Newcastle and Palace confirmed as doublers in Gameweek 32 and many winners of the FA Cup Quarter-Final games likely to double in Gameweek 33. It’s hard to see how Palmer fits into these plans.

The Case To Keep

The case to keep is based almost entirely on the history of Cole Palmer and the belief that he will get out of this slump. This is an elite level player going through a bad patch that surely won’t last forever. In 57 starts in the Premier League, he has 57 attacking returns and is capable of multiple returns in any given Gameweek. Don’t forget in the reverse fixture against their Gameweek 30 opponents, he bagged 18 points courtesy of two goals and an assist.

Looking at the underlying stats, over the barren run of the last seven games, only five players are putting in better mins per xGI NP (Munetsi, Gakpo, Haaland, Mateta and Sarr). In fact, Palmer’s xGI NP of 149.9 is actually better than a certain Mo Salah (192.1), who beats Palmer’s one attacking return by the colossal total of 13 over the same time period.

There’s also not much reason to sell Palmer if you are going to go without Haaland between now and the end of the season. The assets have flattered to deceive this year, with Son, Foden and KDB having relatively poor seasons and Saka remaining injured. Holding Palmer as many lose faith may end up being a shrewd move as he becomes more and more of a differential – he’s already the second most sold player this week.

Conclusion

As with most decisions in FPL, there’s no clear cut answer as to whether you should hold or sell Palmer. The stats indicate that returns are coming, he hasn’t lost any of his attacking threat, it’s just that he is not as clinical in front of goal as he has been.

The big factor is Haaland. A team with Salah, Palmer AND Haaland will have too many compromises. I’ll most likely be selling Palmer to accommodate Erling, given that City will likely have at least one Double Gameweek between now and the end of the season and are out of Europe.