Cole Palmer's Twitch Copyright Drama with EA Sports FC 27

Cole Palmer thought he was giving fans a treat. Instead, he walked straight into a copyright storm.

On Tuesday afternoon, the 24-year-old Chelsea midfielder casually fired up Twitch and started streaming EA Sports FC 27 – days before anyone was supposed to see it. No sponsors, no glossy launch, just Palmer, thousands of viewers and an embargo he blew straight past.

For more than an hour he opened Ultimate Team packs, jumped into matches and chatted away as if it were any other gaming session. The problem? The global release isn’t until September 25, with early access not due to open until September 18.

The developers noticed. Quickly.

The stream was cut off mid-broadcast, and soon after, every trace of EA Sports FC 27 vanished from Palmer’s Twitch channel following a copyright takedown. One minute he was ripping packs, the next he was off the air.

Before the plug was pulled, there was a surreal moment. EA Sports FC’s official account dropped into the chat and delivered a light-hearted but pointed nudge: "Errr Cole, weren't we going to do this a bit later? We'll be live at 6pm UK!"

The message was clear. He’d jumped the gun.

Palmer didn’t sulk. He doubled down on the joke.

Banned from Twitch, the England international moved to Instagram and fired off a playful appeal, tagging both Twitch and EA: "I was only giving the people what they wanted... unban me pls." On another platform, reacting to a post about his suspension, he kept it brief: "We back soon."

Away from the drama over embargoes and bans, Palmer used the ill-fated stream to vent about something else: his virtual self.

Discovering his overall rating had slipped from 87 to 85, he bristled. "I need a word with EA. They took two ratings off me. I had one leg for ten months last season, what do you want me to do?" he said, half-laughing, half-aggrieved.

He then turned his attention to his pace stat, comparing himself to Chelsea team-mate Morgan Rogers. "76 pace? I don't know how he's got more pace than me but, EA sometimes, man, they're a bit crazy."

Behind the humour sits a serious backdrop. Palmer’s reference to "one leg" was no throwaway line. Last season he endured a deeply frustrating spell on the sidelines, battling a groin problem and a fractured toe that blunted his influence in the opening months of the campaign.

On Chelsea’s pre-season tour in Sydney, he admitted he’d pushed too hard to get back. "The first few months, with me being injured, I just wanted to go out and play, which I probably shouldn't have done," he said. "Obviously, I couldn't play how I wanted to play. It was a bad season, personally, with injuries and stuff, but I feel good now. The seven weeks obviously helped. I'm ready to go again."

He even went abroad in search of answers. "I went to Sweden or Denmark, one of those countries, to see a doctor. We did speak about (surgery), but I didn't end up getting it," he revealed, outlining just how far he was prepared to go to fix his body.

Those efforts are starting to show. With his injury troubles apparently easing, Palmer has burst into the new season alongside Rogers, both already on four goal contributions in the Premier League. Their numbers underline a growing influence at Stamford Bridge and give Chelsea a sharper edge in the final third.

The Twitch account may or may not return. The jokes about ratings will roll on. What matters more for Palmer now is simple: keep this form going.

With Chelsea juggling Premier League and Carabao Cup commitments and chasing early momentum across all fronts, his feet – not his controller – will decide how far this surge can really go.