Cole Palmer vs Bukayo Saka: The battle to become the new king of London football begins with Chelsea threatening to end Arsenal's Premier League title hopes

As is so often the case, criticism of Palmer for how many goals he scored from the penalty spot turned out to be completely disingenuous. During his ascent in 2023-24, he was quite obviously Chelsea's best player nine times out of 10 regardless and irrespective of his contributions from 12 yards.

Those spot-kicks did help as the amplifier of his impact into the wider football lexicon, however, and provide him the attention which his ability deserved. It's hard to ignore someone with more than 10 Premier League goals in their first season as a starter, but impossible if they reach 22.

Palmer was the go-to option for Chelsea within weeks of his arrival at the back-end of the summer 2023 transfer window, the latest success off the Mauricio Pochettino conveyor belt of young talent. The club's week-to-week soap opera didn't faze Palmer, who kept cool and cold while delivering the goods when his team needed him most. Had the season gone on for another fortnight or he had signed at the start of the window, Chelsea may well have done enough to leapfrog Aston Villa and Tottenham into the final Champions League spot.

Pochettino's foundations have been improved upon by Enzo Maresca and the many bodies of the recruitment team have found more quality in the market, allowing Palmer the support he needs to maintain his level and act as the leader by example to those around him.

There is an excitement to the narrative around Palmer that no doubt helps him in debates against Saka. For example, he was named as England's Men's Player of the Year for 2024, despite making only a handful of starts when his positional rival was a near ever-present and contributed more to the team's success.

Palmer also has the flashier showreel to boast of - his first-half, four-goal haul against Brighton and worldie pass to set up a goal against Newcastle were enough to bring any grown adult to their knees in worship - and is more of a throwback 'moments' player, one that provides the aesthetics of a streets-won't-forget hero and the reliable contributions of a genuine superstar. Saka, though capable of the sublime and the stunning, is more involved in what his team does and doesn't get silenced out of some matchups the way the ganglier and less authoritative Palmer can be.

The Arsenal man doesn't quite have the same tip-toed bounce or on-the-spot jink either, not since he's been needed to knit together the Gunners' attack almost singlehandedly. The work Saka gets through is relenting and isn't as glitzy or glamorous. Losing out in the aesthetics department doesn't make you any worse of a player, though.

The stats - at club level only from the start of the 2023-24 season, via FBRef - largely back up the eye test in the cases of Saka and Palmer. The Arsenal winger is more of a direct threat, with his Chelsea counterpart statistically bringing others into the game more often.

All the while, the physical toll on Saka is also glaringly noticeable, given he's played over 1,000 minutes more than Palmer yet travels further with the ball at his feet despite his added defensive load.

In total, there isn't a lot to split them. You can make the case for either, which is precisely why Sunday's showdown will go some way to determining London's royalty.

The higher your aspirations, the more intense the pressure. That's just the world of sport, and it's the world Saka has been living in since Arsenal shed the skin of their previous under-achieving selves and cemented their status as genuine adversaries to Manchester City.

But the burden on the winger's shoulders still weighs that much heavier. He is one of the Gunners' own, the one who's been there right from the start of life after Arsene Wenger. He is the new hope leading the chase for the MacGuffin of a trophy.

Saka has already played a staggering 239 times for Arsenal by the age of just 23. Mikel Arteta so hugely depends on him not only because of his ludicrous tangible output, but the work he puts in going the other way as well. He has the energy - if only just about - to dig in his heels off the ball and withstand double and triple-teams on it.

Though Palmer and Saka's exploits have rightly made them stand out as two of the Premier League's best players, they both are still in need of a super 'Super Sunday'.

Palmer has been too easily cast aside in Chelsea's biggest fixtures so far this season, with both Liverpool and Manchester United muzzling him to an impressive extent, while Arsenal's best chance of winning will almost certainly come with Saka carrying them again, such is the state of this season's attacking malaise. It was honours even when he faced up against fellow right-winger Mohamed Salah of Liverpool last month on his spritely return from injury, and getting one over Palmer will go some way to re-establishing his place atop the Premier League pecking order.

The international break is looming on the horizon and the opportunity is afoot for either to strengthen their credentials in the club-football spotlight for two weeks, regardless of what happens while away with the England squad. So far this term, Palmer has been the beneficiary of these prolonged gaps between Premier League fixtures.

Modern sport is about the pull of the star players as much as it is a team game. It is Saka and Palmer who will be eyed most when they meet this weekend, and the makings of a new rivalry could be upon us.

Let's not get it twisted. If Chelsea were indeed languishing in mid-table just as so many pre-season predictions had them, then we wouldn't be talking up Palmer's chances of yanking back Saka in a metaphorical sense the way Giorgio Chiellini so infamously did in the Euro 2020 final.

Surprisingly, the Blues are, at worse, competent. At best, they're a wildcard in what is proving to be a competitive Premier League season, and they even head into the weekend ahead of Arsenal on goal difference.

Arteta's side were expected to challenge for the title, and even though City are wobbling in the face of their own lofty standards, the red half of north London went into the weekend's games seven points off the Premier League summit, with Liverpool leading the way after 10 rounds of fixtures.

A slow and stagnant start proved to be the key reason why Arsenal didn't finish first last season - there was simply too much ground to make up and too many points left on the table throughout the autumn and winter. Defeat at Stamford Bridge could plunge them back into crisis, even if only existential over the international break, again that two-week period of boredom and thumb-twiddling setting in.

Chelsea, on the other hand, could send a huge statement that they are ready to compete immediately under Maresca.