Chelsea are still top of the Premier League with an undefeated record intact, but they were made to work hard for their win against Crystal Palace on Saturday. They endured an early sending off and a late surge from the hosts, eventually holding out for a 2-1 win.
3 things we learned from Chelsea’s nervy 2-1 win over Crystal Palace
A couple of red cards made things fun at Selhurst Park, where Chelsea defeated Crystal Palace, 2-1.
The Blues took the lead quickly in stunning fashion, with Oscar curling a perfect free kick into the back of the net in the 8th minute. He had to take from well left of the center of the pitch, around 25 yards out, but had the audacity to curl a shot to the far post that absolutely shocked Julian Speroni, though Oscar’s placement was so perfect that the Palace keeper couldn’t have saved it even if he knew what was coming.
But Palace had their chances immediately afterwards, and regretted not taking them. Frazier Campbell got onto the ball after a bad header by Gary Cahill in the 11th minute and tried to chip Thibaut Courtois, but his shot went over the bar. Four minutes later, he beat Cahill one-on-one, but pulled his shot just wide.
Little happened for the rest of the half until the 40th minute, when the game turned on its head. Just seconds after Courtois made an excellent save on Jason Puncheon, Chelsea defender Cesar Azpilicueta made a dangerous challenge on Mile Jedinak and was justifiably shown a straight red card. Campbell and Cesc Fabregas could have been sent off as well for their fight resulting from the dangerous tackle, but they were just shown yellows.
Strangely, Damien Delaney completely lost his cool three minutes after that, immediately erasing Palace’s man advantage. Already on a yellow, he pulled the shirt of Loic Remy and was given a second booking, taking Palace down to 10 men as well.
With the numbers even and more space to play with, Chelsea didn't take much time in the second half to double their lead, and they did it in impressive fashion. Fabregas was the scorer, playing one-two exchanges with Eden Hazard, then Oscar before finishing past Speroni to record his first Premier League goal.
The game looked well in hand for Chelsea from then on, and they started to play very conservatively. But they were eventually made to pay for that, conceding a 90th minute goal to set up a nervy finish. Substitute Wilfried Zaha made some space for himself on the right wing and squared for Campbell, who beat his man to the ball and tapped in from five yards.
Four minutes of stoppage time went up on the board, but the Eagles couldn’t make the most of them, and Chelsea were able to see out the victory.
Crystal Palace: Speroni, Ward, Delaney (red 43’), Hangeland, Kelly, Ledley (Mariappa 58’), Jedinak, McArthur (Guedioura 68’), Bolasie, Campbell, Puncheon (Zaha 68’)
Goals: Campbell (90’)
Chelsea: Courtois, Azpilicueta (red 40’), Terry, Cahill, Ivanovic, Matic, Fabregas, Hazard (Salah 86’), Oscar, Willian (Felipe 42’), Remy (Drogba 90’)
Goals: Oscar (8’), Fabregas (51’)
3 things
1. Referee Craig Pawson nailed his calls - Both red cards were absolutely the correct call, and Pawson probably kept things sane by showing yellow cards to Fabregas and Campbell for their fight instead of sending them off. The rest of the game flowed well too, and there were no big missed calls. It was an excellent change from the early match, which featured Jonathan Moss completely ruining the fixture.
2. Oscar’s looking a bit Beckhamy - The list of people who would even attempt the free kick that Oscar scored on Saturday is small, and the list of people in the fully professional era who could execute it as well as he did probably features around a dozen names. It was a stunning free kick, and he’ll prove hard to drop if he’s made it a regular part of his game.
3. Time to give Kurt Zouma a shot? - Gary Cahill hasn’t been terrific this season, and this might have been his worst performance yet. Perhaps Jose Mourinho should think about giving a start to the young prodigy he has on his bench.
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