Paul Merson called Chelsea’s goalless draw with Crystal Palace on the opening weekend a “concern” and says West Ham will be aiming to shut down Cole Palmer to close off the Blues’ creativity.

Read on as Merson discusses Chelsea’s lack of cutting edge against Palace, Palmer’s struggles and the improvements West Ham need to make…

‘Stop Palmer, stop Chelsea’

The draw against Crystal Palace was worrying for Chelsea.

Chelsea were not good.

If Cole Palmer isn’t going to break a team down, I’m not sure who is for Chelsea. If opposition teams pick him up and mark him well, I’m not sure what threat Chelsea have. Pedro Neto and Jamie Gittens have pace, but they struggled to beat their defenders on Sunday.

He needs some support.

‘Palmer needs to trust team and stop dropping deep’

Palmer is the talk of the town in team talks against Chelsea. Teams are trying to stop him because they think stop him, stop Chelsea. Stop Cole Palmer will be the message for West Ham on Friday. That’s just how it is.

Palmer also has to have a bit of faith in the team. He needs to stay as high up the pitch as he can because when he gets frustrated, he gets deeper and deeper. He goes shorter and shorter to get the ball and it’s so difficult to hurt a team from inside his own half.

It’s hard for Palmer. You’ve got to have runners around when you get the ball and for me, he hasn’t got those.

It’s not just all on Palmer because the coach has to come up with solutions, too. He has to work out a way to get him the ball in areas where he can hurt teams. But for Palmer, patience is key. He has to wait for the ball a bit more instead of dropping deep to come and get it.

You cannot hurt anybody on the halfway line. He needs the ball in and around the box where he’s special.

‘Palmer will miss Jackson’

Palmer will miss Nicolas Jackson this season.

Jackson was a willing runner for Palmer, and he created so much space for him.

I know he was a bit messy with his play and he missed chances, but he was game. He had an ability to take defenders the other way and when you do that, it opens space for Palmer.

When you play like Palmer, you want as much space as you can, and Jackson helped provide that.

Now, Joao Pedro isn’t really an out-and-out centre forward. He likes to come short too and that’s not helpful for Palmer. If the middle of the pitch is suffocated, then it takes Palmer out of the equation.

I am not sure the decision to potentially move on Jackson is the right one. You have to remember how good Palmer was with Jackson. Jackson made Palmer and Palmer made Jackson.

‘Eze could have helped Chelsea’

I cannot believe Chelsea didn’t go for Eberechi Eze.

I really don’t know what I am missing.

They buy winger after winger, but they need guile. They need more than Palmer.

If you get Eze, you then have two players who can break teams down.

They are predictable for me. They play with two quick wingers, with Palmer trying to feed them.

‘Bigger game for Chelsea than West Ham’

I don’t think coming up against Chelsea is a bad game for West Ham.

Of course, the defeat at Sunderland is a concern. They were extremely poor at the Stadium of Light, and you can understand the worry from the supporters.

The Hammers need more energy in midfield. They were overrun by Sunderland, who put in a good performance.

The game against West Ham is a bigger game for Chelsea, in my opinion.

Watch West Ham vs Chelsea live on Sky Sports on Friday from 7pm; kick off 8pm

Sky Sports to show 215 live PL games from next season

From this season, Sky Sports’ Premier League coverage will increase from 128 matches to at least 215 games exclusively live.

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