Chelsea 2-1 Crystal Palace: Premier League highlights and recap
Chelsea beat Crystal Palace 2-1 at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, March 10. Here are all the highlights from the Premier League match.
Chelsea beat Crystal Palace 2-1 at Stamford Bridge on Saturday to pull within two points of the top four with eight matches to play. As for Palace, two hard-fought losses to big-six opponents in the space of a week leaves them mired in the relegation zone.
The Blues were far from their best in the first half, but were considerably better than their opponents, who may still have been feeling the effects of an emotionally draining 3-2 loss to Manchester United on Monday.
Willian opened the scoring in the 25th minute, cutting in from the left and squeezing in a shot of the post. The Blues doubled their lead seven minutes later, Martin Kelly blocking Olivier Giroud’s shot, only to see the ball bounce off keeper Wayne Hennessey and into his own net.
Wilfried Zaha, named on the bench after a quicker-than-expected return from injury, replaced Christian Benteke and had an immediate positive impact on his side’s performance, leading a higher press that saw Alexander Sorloth hit the post in the early exchanges of the second half.
Palace later had a goal disallowed in the final 10 minutes for a high boot in the build up, and finally got one back in the 89th minute through Patrick van Aanholt. It was a deserved goal, but Chelsea could have been out of sight by then if not for some profligate finishing.
The match proved more difficult than it seemed like it would be after an uneventful first half, but Antonio Conte can be relatively pleased as he turns his focus to Wednesday’s Champions League tie at the Camp Nou. The race for the top four remains alive.
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Highlights
Straight through the legs of Courtois! #CHECRY pic.twitter.com/J0oO9f0KEX
— NBC Sports Soccer (@NBCSportsSoccer) March 10, 2018
Chelsea pull within two points of Tottenham with the win, but Tottenham could extend that to five with a win against Bournemouth on Sunday. Palace are 18th, a point behind 17th place Southampton and three behind 16th-place West Ham.