CHELSEA star Morgan Rogers says his "bluntly honest" friendship with Cole Palmer brings the best out of both of them.
Rogers and Palmer have been friends since they were 14 and playing for Manchester City's Academy.
They reunited this summer when Rogers joined the Blues and the former Aston Villa forward revealed how they are not afraid to be each other's fiercest critic.
Rogers said: "The best thing about us is we hold each other accountable.
"If one's not quite at the level or their mindsets's elsewhere - I think cos we're so close, we know we know when they're not - we can just click each other back into gear straight away.
"We can say something and we're not scared to hurt each other's feelings to get the best for each other and get the best out of each other.
"So, I think when you're friends and you can just be bluntly honest, you know, nothing's going to come of it after.
"I think we're as honest as ever to each other and we can just say it how it is. We know it's not personal.
"We know we want the best for each other and it just keeps allowing us to be better and improve."
It would be fascinating to know what Rogers said, if anything, to Palmer after his mate received the first red card of his career in last weekend's home defeat by Tottenham.
But it is clearly a friendship which can weather storms.
Palmer admits the "ice cold" goal celebration which he has trademarked was copied off Rogers.
And when Rogers was asked if he would consider launching a rival brand, he said: "I don't think that'd be great for his business, though, would it?
"I think I'd completely kill his business in the ground, wouldn't that?
"So, I don't know if I want to be that horrible. We'll see."
Both Palmer and Rogers have had plenty of opportunities to celebrate already this season, with eight goals and seven assists - sometimes for each other - between them.
Rogers said: "He's who we probably rely on the most to get us the ball and to try and transition the ball, and his ability to kind of take players out the game, to manipulate the ball.
"You can't really teach it to be honest. It's something that only very few have got in the game.
"It's key for me obviously getting me the ball in those areas, getting the ball in one-v-one situations in between the lines where I want to pick up the ball.
"And creating space for me because he's drawing players to him, and vice versa - kind of how we work off each other and and what what each other wants."
In partnership with centre forward Joao Pedro, Palmer and Rogers formed arguably the Premier League's best attacking trio - at least until Pedro sustained a thigh injury which will keep him out until at least November.
Of the nicknames proposed for Chelsea's front three, Rogers jokes that he prefers "JP Morgan" because his name is the more prominent than in CPR.
When asked why the three work so well together, Rogers told Men In Blazers Media Network: "Because I think we're so different.
"I think we attack and challenge defenders in completely different ways.
"We all want the ball in different ways. We all want different things in the game. And I think if they try and stop one, then the other two are going to get their joy because we're all so different.
"If you try and stop Cole, then it allows me and Joao more space.
"If you try and stop me and Xiao, Cole's going to be free as a bird to kind of set his authority on the game.
"it's kind of a mismatch from other teams of what to stop, how to stop it, and how to do that.
"So, we know that if we're all on it, and we're all in the positive mindset of helping each other, that we're all going to get joy from the game."
Rogers was also full of praise for Jordan Henderson, whose arrival at Chelsea in the summer was not greeted as enthusiastically as his own by some Blues fans.
Rogers insists England team-mate Henderson, 36, is not just around to share his experience and leadership skills.
Rogers said: "He's made a massive difference. He's some character, some player and people forget that and just write him off so easily.
"They think he's here for experience and here to help everyone. But people forget the player and what he's won and what he's achieved because he's so driven and that he's he's in such good shape.
"36 doesn't mean anything to him, that he can still compete with 23, 24 year olds as he tries to compete with me every day. He loses but he can try.
"But the fact that he can try and not many other 36 year olds can.
"He's a remarkable person, remarkable player, and there's no surprise to me that he can still impact games and impact teams the way he is, because he's won what he's won in the game for a reason. "His mentality, his mindset, the way he thinks the game, the way he thinks about his body...
"Even if he's not at the training ground, he's thinking constantly about how he can be in the best physical and mental shape come the weekend to perform and deliver.
"And he always said that and the more that people talk about his age, it just gives him more fire to prove people wrong and he's just going to continue to do that."
