LONDON: Chelsea have spent £1.2bn on new players in two chaotic years since Todd Boehly took over. Much of that spending has been wasted on the wrong players for the wrong positions. But some of those deals had to work out and none more impressively than the capture of Cole Palmer.

The 22-year-old cost £40m from Manchester City in August last year. Palmer, unlike Phil Foden, had not been content to spend his youthful years alternating between the starting line-up, a place on the substitutes’ bench or a seat in the stands.

The decisive manner in which he forced City to sell him has been matched by the decisive nature of his England arrival during the Euro finals and the decisive way he struck all four Chelsea goals in the first half of the Blues’ 4:2 defeat of Brighton.

Inevitably demands will arise from media and fans for England’s interim manager Lee Carsley to build his new attack not around Foden or Jude Bellingham but around Palmer. Carsley knows Palmer well. Chelsea’s new hero played 15 matches under him for the England under-21s.

Palmer has tight control, the acceleration of an Olympic sprinter and a perfect eye for the next gap in an opposition defence. Those gifts equipped him perfectly to rip apart a Brighton defence indulging in a suicidally high line. Brighton head coach Fabian Hürzeler will not often confront an opponent with Palmer’s particular skillset but he might usefully adjust his tactical balance for the long season ahead.

Chelsea should not be complacent about their improvement under Enzo Maresca. The match contained six goals but the tally could have been doubled such was the stream of defensive blunders on both sides. They even fell behind briefly in the opening minutes when Georginio Rutter punished a mistake by goalkeeper Robert Sanchez against his former club.

Palmer then took over to make history as the first player to score four goals in the first half of a Premier League game. He had completed his hat-trick by the 31st minute with a free kick which would have done credit to a Beckham or Ronaldo. His fourth goal followed 10 minutes later. He hit the post as well and had another goal ruled out for offside, as did Jadon Sancho.

Palmer’s second goal was a penalty, extending his record in the Premier League to 10 out of 10. Only Yaya Toure (11/11) has a better record.

Chelsea, under Maresca, have not lost in the league since falling to Manchester City on the opening day. They have scored more goals since the beginning of May (29) and gained more victories (nine) than any other team in the league.

Maresca, who had worked with Palmer at City, said: “I told Cole he scored four and could have scored two or even three more. The best thing is the way he is today is exactly how he was three or four years ago. Goals, assists, best player of the Premier League — this doesn’t change the way he is. He’s a simple guy, a humble guy and that for me is the most important thing.”

Hürzeler, reflecting on Brighton’s first defeat in his eight games in all competitions, said: “Palmer punished every individual mistake. He punished the first after an easy mistake, the second with the penalty, the third with a free kick. You can’t stop him. It was like one bad event after another.”

Liverpool top

Ibrahima Konate headed home his first ever Premier League goal and Mohamed Salah converted a penalty as Liverpool climbed to the top of the Premier League table with a 2-1 victory over struggling Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Arne Slot’s men have 15 points after six games, one more than both Manchester City and Arsenal, while Wolves are bottom with a single point.

“Feels good (to be top), you want to be up there but it doesn’t tell me that much at the moment,” Slot told Sky Sports. “If you look at Wolves they are down in the table but they played much better than that today.

“After 19 games, it’ll tell me something but not after six.”

Konate scored in first-half injury time after Diogo Jota beat his man down the left then served up a pinpoint cross that the 25-year-old centre back leapt to head home.

Wolves capitalised on some sloppy defending by Konate, however, to level in the 56th minute. The French centre back appeared to be leaving the ball to run out for a goal kick but Jorgen Strand Larsen kept it in, and Rayan Ait-Nouri scored from close range.

Yet Salah silenced the celebratory home crowd at Molineux five minutes later when Liverpool were awarded a penalty for Nelson Semedo’s foul on Jota, Salah sending keeper Sam Johnstone the wrong way.

Leandro Trossard erased the memory of his red card last week as he played a crucial role in Arsenal’s 4-2 Premier League win over Leicester City after the Londoners had somehow squandered a two-goal lead.

The Belgian had put Arsenal 2-0 ahead on the stroke of halftime and it was his back-post shot that deflected in off Leicester’s Wilfred Ndidi that restored Arsenal’s lead in the fourth minute of stoppage time.

Kai Havertz then made totally sure of the victory that lifted Arsenal level with leaders Manchester City on 14 points.

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