WATCH Highlights & Match Report: Crystal Palace 2-3 Chelsea, Chelsea solidifies Champions League Spot
Full Time Score Line: Crystal Palace 2-3 Chelsea
Zaha (34′ minutes), Benteke (72′ minutes) : Giroud (6′ minutes), Pulisic (27′ minutes), Abraham (71′ minutes)
Chelsea coach Frank Lampard and his blue army further strengthened their Premier League position in bid to qualify for Champions league football with a well fought 3-2 victory over hosts Crystal Palace.
Tammy Abraham 72nd minute goal was enough to give the visitors a deserved victory at Selhust Park.
The entertaining encounter and five goal thriller included a stunning long-range goal from Wilfried Zaha and a goal from Christian Benteke.
Chelsea was gifted their first goal when a chasing Crystal Palace defender Garry Cahill pulled up a muscle giving advancing William a chance to square lurking Olivier Giroud who converted the first goal to the visitors.
Visitors Chelsea looked to have put the game beyond the home side, first through Christian Pulisic’s rising shot to make it 2-0 in the first half and then via Tammy Abraham’s neat finish with 19 minutes to go to put the Blues 3-1 up.
Zaha’s goal was a superb strike, fiercely fired into the net via the crossbar from an unlikely distance. Benteke’s was more routine, tapped in from point-blank range following a neat move, but almost as surprising, it being his first goal at Selhurst Park since April 2018.
And Palace came within a whisker of snatching a point when Scott Dann’s back-post header struck the inside of the post before Chelsea hacked the ball clear.
What the win means to Chelsea
- Chelsea’s win means they move above Leicester into third place in the table, five points ahead of fifth-placed Manchester United.
- Chelsea suffered a notable blip when they were beaten at West Ham six days ago, but apart from that their restart has gone pretty much to plan.
- A return of 12 points from a possible 15 has ensured they remain firmly in the mix for a place in next season’s Champions League.
Key Opta Facts
– Chelsea have now won 132 of their 256 London derbies in the Premier League; their 52 per cent win rate is the highest for any side in such matches.
– Crystal Palace have lost four consecutive matches for the first time since March 2018 – the fourth game in that run was also against Chelsea.
– Frank Lampard is the first English Chelsea boss to achieve a league double over Crystal Palace since Dave Sexton in 1971-72.
– Chelsea striker Olivier Giroud has scored five goals in his last eight Premier League appearances; his previous five goals in the competition were spread across 49 games.
Man of the Match: William
Willian has scored or assisted in four consecutive league games for the first time for Chelsea, registering four goals and two assists. Since the restart, only Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes has as many goal involvements in the Premier League
WATCH Highlights: Crystal Palace 2-3 Chelsea
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDifwFmpCxI
Video Supplied by Chelsea Football Club You Tube Channel