London, Aug 23 : Chelsea head coach Xabi Alonso has labelled Cole Palmer a 'world-class' player and backed the England international to produce his best football this season after completing a full pre-season under the Spaniard.

Palmer, who has established himself as one of Chelseaâ??s key attacking players since joining the club, has had the opportunity to work with Alonso from the first day of pre-season at Cobham.

With Chelsea set to begin their Premier League campaign away against Fulham on Monday, Alonso believes Palmer is in a strong position to make a major impact.

â??Cole is determined to enjoy his football. He wants to be fit. He wants to feel healthy. He wants to have a good connection with the players around him,â?? Alonso said at the pre-match press conference.

â??And I've said that if we have this Cole and we can reach him and he feels that flow in the game and that he connects well with the players, I'm sure that his level is top-class, world-class, I would say, and that he will have a great season,â?? he added.

Palmer's progress has been disrupted by injuries at different stages of his career, but Alonso believes the forward has learned from those setbacks and is now taking greater care of his fitness.

â??Yes. I think that sometimes you need to go through a difficult moment with an injury or whatever to learn from that,â?? Alonso said when asked whether Palmer's injury problems were behind him.

â??I think that Cole has gone through a difficult period with the injury, and now he's working really hard to have the prevention not to have to feel those symptoms. Since the first day, he's been working really hard to avoid that,â?? he added.

Chelsea will open their 2026/27 Premier League season against Fulham at Craven Cottage on Monday.

/IANS