Cole Palmer & Raheem Sterling enter Dream Team’s top eight midfielders after Middlesbrough massacre

HAVING lost 1-0 to Middlesbrough at the Riverside in their Carabao Cup semi-final first leg, Chelsea registered a comfortable 6-1 win over the Championship side at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night to get the job done.

The Blues ultimately booked their place at Wembley in fine style and while Boro’s late consolation goal wiped out their clean sheet, many Dream Team managers were satisfied thanks to Cole Palmer’s (£3.9m) latest exhibition.

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The 21-year-old bagged a brace to add another 16 points to the eight he earned against Fulham two weekends ago to return 24 points in total for Gameweek 20.

Palmer was a widely-selected captain among gaffers in the absence of Erling Haaland (£7.9m) and Mohamed Salah (£6.7m) and he certainly justified his popularity with three goals across his two fixtures.

At the time of writing, he’s comfortably the top performer of the Gameweek although Darwin Nunez (£4.2m) and/or Diogo Jota (£3.9m) may yet usurp him this evening.

The former Manchester City starlet has become an essential player for Mauricio Pochettino’s side in rapid time.

Whether playing from the right, as a No10, or as centre-forward, Palmer has shouldered the responsibility of scoring the goals – helped by him jumping the queue to become first-choice penalty taker.

He’s now scored 11 goals in all competitions on top of nine assists.

His combined tally of 20 goal involvements is only bettered by Bukayo Saka (£5.9m) among assets in his position.

Naturally, a 24-point haul has catapulted Palmer up the rankings so that he’s now level with Anthony Gordon (£3.8m) in joint-fifth among midfielders on 161 points, just one point off James Ward-Prowse (£3.9m) in fourth.

And he’s got a team-mate for company at the top end of the rankings.

Raheem Sterling (£3.9m) didn’t exploit Boro’s frailty to the full extent but he did notch seven points when all was said and done, taking his Gameweek haul to 11.

The England international has 149 points in total, putting him eighth in his position, though he’s just one point away from catching Pascal Gross (£4.2m) in seventh.

As long as Chelsea remain closer to mid-table obscurity than the Champions League places they will be viewed as under-achievers but there’s no denying results have picked up of late.

They’ve won five of their last six games in all competitions and are now just one point off Manchester United (8th) and Brighton (7th) in the Premier League table – not to mention they’re one game away from silverware in the Carabao Cup.

Dream Team bosses don’t even need to give Chelsea’s overall form all that much thought, Palmer and Sterling’s returns are all that really matters.

The former is the fourth-most popular asset in his position with an ownership of 21.6% while the latter is tenth on 13.6%.

However, a quick look at the fixtures suggests doubling up on Chelsea’s star midfielders might be overkill.

Gameweek 21 features a difficult double header in the form of Aston Villa (FA Cup) and Liverpool (Premier League).

Subsequent fixtures against Wolves and Crystal Palace may yield healthy returns but Pochettino’s men then finish February with a trip to Manchester City and what is likely to be another meeting with Liverpool at Wembley.

No gaffer should be thinking of ditching Palmer any time soon but Sterling’s backers should probably be more flexible.

Retaining the 29-year-old is perfectly reasonable but given he’s the exact same price as Palmer right now, it’s an easy switch on paper to the superior option.

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk