Cole Palmer Man United truth as Chelsea star stuns Brighton with four-goal haul

As Manchester United await their opportunity to add points to their Premier League tally this weekend, they will be hoping their rivals drop them.

Erik ten Hag's men welcome Tottenham Hotspur to Old Trafford on Sunday afternoon. Both entered the weekend narrowly in the bottom half of the table with desires of climbing higher towards those European qualification spots, one of which have been occupied by Chelsea at this early stage.

However, any hope of closing the gap on Enzo Maresca's side is in tatters as things stand with them leading Brighton 4-2 at the end of an electric first half at Stamford Bridge, placing them six points ahead of the Reds. All four strikes have come from midfielder Cole Palmer, making him the first player in Premier League history to complete such a feat in the first half of a match.

From the moment the 22-year-old's first struck the back of Bart Verbruggen's net, 19 minutes and 57 seconds elapsed as he added another from the penalty spot, picked out the top corner with a free-kick and converted the last having been teed up by Jadon Sancho.

This now takes the former Manchester City academy graduate to three top-flight hat-tricks in his four-year career. One of those came against Everton when also scoring four last term, and United fans will far from fondly remember his first just days before, as he helped the Blues rescue a 4-3 win against Ten Hag's men in stoppage time.

And it was in the aftermath game that a key revelation came to light. Prompted by TNT Sports, the Wythenshawe-born midfielder admitted: "Yeah, when I was growing up I was a United fan."

No matter if this was against the club he adored during his youth, Palmer was 'buzzing' to have netted the trio of goals to aid his current