Eagles caged as Chelsea stop the rot

Both teams came into this game in desperate need of three points, albeit at different ends of the table. Chelsea would have seen Champions League qualification become all the more difficult without a victory while Palace still find themselves in the relegation mire.

There was some good news for Palace ahead of kick-off, especially heading into the final games of the season, as Wilfried Zaha returned to the matchday squad and took his place on the bench. The ‘Eagles’ have not won a game in which he hasn’t featured this season and he has been their star player for most of the season.

Unfortunately though, with Zaha watching on from the sidelines, Chelsea put themselves into what proved to be an unassailable lead in the first half. Palace can consider themselves unlucky for both goals but there will be no complaints from Antonio Conte’s men.

In the 25th minute, having seen an effort fly high and wide two minutes earlier, Willian fired a low one towards goal from the right hand side. A slight deflection off of Kelly saw the ball creep in past Hennessey at the near post. And matters were about to get much worse for the two of them.

Seven minutes later, Zappacosta’s effort was cleared by Kelly, only for it to hit the diving Hennessey in the back and straight back at the defender. It deflected off his chest and in - own goal. There was little Palace could have done for either goal and Roy Hodgson will have to chalk it down as one of those days.

Zaha was brought on at half time, but it was a Chelsea substitution that was the biggest story for most of the half. Oliver Giroud had been given a rare start for Chelsea, but having contrived to miss two chances from a combined distance of about eight yards he was hauled off for Alvaro Morata

 

10 March 2018

Palace had pressed for most of the half, and they might have thought they had scored when Alexander Sorloth hit the post just after half time, but Chelsea had enough to keep them at bay. When they did score it was a case of too little, too late.

Van Aanholt was played in as the clock ticked towards 90 minutes and he slotted an effort past Courtois. Chelsea though held out for the three minutes added time for a precious win.

 

10 March 2018

They will now quickly turn their thoughts to Barcelona in the Champions League, while for Palace the next fixture is a huge six-pointer against Huddersfield.