Palmer started the season in red-hot form for the Blues, scoring 14 goals and creating six assists across his first 21 Premier League appearances. However, he has zero goal involvements since.

Many Chelsea supporters, as well as Fantasy Football fans, had pencilled in Chelsea’s home match against a Southampton side who sit bottom of the league and have the worst defensive record as the fixture where Palmer would restart his goalscoring form.

And the former Manchester City man did find himself on the end of several chances, having seven shots – the joint-highest total for a Chelsea player in the league this season.

Palmer missed two glorious opportunities when one-on-one in the first half with one effort saved by Aaron Ramsdale and another dragged wide. After the restart he blasted a cut-back over the bar.

In total, his chances accumulated to an expected goals (xG) figure of 1.07.

After he had a late free-kick saved by Ramsdale, Palmer reacted by smiling, appearing to see the funny side of his barren run, which Maresca praised in his post-match press conference.

“It is how you react. He is reacting perfectly. He is smiling and he is happy. We have no doubt he will score more goals,” Maresca said.

“He’s a human being. All human beings, all big players, all the normal players, big club, big manager – we all go through a bad moment.

“Even if he is young, he shared time in a big club and he knows that all the big players go through moments like this.”

Palmer joined Chelsea from Manchester City in September, 2023 and has since scored 39 goals across all competitions.