Chelsea
head coach Frank Lampard hailed the continued development of Christian
Pulisic after another game-changing contribution in his side's absorbing 3-2
win at Crystal Palace.
Pulisic has been producing standout performances for Chelsea since the
restart, and he scored his eighth Premier League goal in only his 16th start
at Selhurst Park, with his latest strike likely to lead to further
comparisons with Eden Hazard.
Lampard, whose side moved up to third in the Premier League after
withstanding late pressure at Palace, is delighted to see the winger
bringing consistency to his end product.
"He's got great talent," Lampard said. "He came here in difficult conditions
at the start of the season in terms of not having a break but he's moved his
game on to another level - not just in terms of how he's going by people but
he's got real end product.
"I didn't put any limits on him so he's not surprised me. I knew the talent
he had and I wanted to help him when he first got here because of the
physical nature of the league. I had to manage him and then unfortunately he
had quite a bad injury.
"But the hunger that he has, the quality that he's showing, and the end
product has been the most pleasing aspect. Since the restart, he's been
fantastic.
"You look around at the top attacking talent in the world, they score goals
regularly that win games and at the moment he's doing that, so I'm delighted
with him."
Neville: Pulisic growing into something
special
Chelsea signed the American playmaker in a £58m deal from Bundesliga giants
Borussia Dortmund last summer.
Speaking as co-commentator for Sky Sports, Gary Neville was quick to heap
praise on Pulisic for his sublime finish at the near post for his third goal
in six games.
Neville said: "He's impressing me enormously. He gets one on one [with the
defender]. Joel Ward does all he can to force him on the outside. You don't
expect him to do that.
"Ordinarily you'd say the goalkeeper [has to do better] but he has no
chance. It was so fast. It was devastating from Pulisic. Hazard did it over
a long period of time during a fantastic career at Chelsea.
"He was nowhere near that world-class level when he signed but we're
witnessing him grow and there's something special there."
Lampard gets his substitutions right
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.
Lampard's substitutions made an impact with Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Tammy
Abraham combining for the crucial third goal, while Jorginho had a calming
influence for the final 10 minutes.
But this was a mixture of the good and bad seen throughout the season from
Lampard's side, with Kepa Arrizabalaga tipping Scott Dann's header onto the
post before Kurt Zouma made a vital last-ditch block to deny Christian
Benteke a second.
"Considering the quality in our midfield during the first half, today wasn't
our greatest day," Lampard added.
"We weren't as slick with the ball as we have been recently, and gave them
the opportunity to press us and turn over possession. I thought Ruben could
use his strength to drive with the ball and Tammy could stretch their
defence with his running so I'm very pleased he got his goal.
"They're a big three points because of the position we're in. It's tight
around us and it's nice mentally to be third for maybe a short period. The
game could've been more comfortable for us tonight but then we could also
have lost those three points at the end there.
"It might be nice to dwell on the three points, but my job is to look into
how we can get better and I feel we still can."
Chelsea led early thanks to Olivier Giroud's second goal in as many matches,
but only after Gary Cahill had pulled up with a hamstring injury leading up
to the goal.
Lampard had sympathy for his former Chelsea team-mate, but feels there was
no need for his players to stop playing.
"It was a bad injury, with the way he went down, but we had to finish the
action," he said. "There's no way we were going to kick the ball out in that
situation but you obviously feel sorry for him on an individual note. I know
for head injuries, the game would stop but not in those situations."
Hodgson 'feared the worst' after Cahill
blow
Crystal Palace have now lost four consecutive matches for the first time
since March 2018 - the fourth game in that run was also against Chelsea.
The home side's starting XI was 30 years and 351 days, the oldest of any
starting line-up in the competition this season, but Hodgson was pleased
with the effort shown by his players, feeling they deserved something from
the game.
The Eagles could be without Cahill for the rest of the season should tests
confirm he sustained a hamstring tear, but the Palace boss was encouraged by
the resolve shown by his players in responding to the double early setback.
"It was a very good performance," Hodgson reflected. "One feared the worst
when we lost Gary Cahill but the players overcame that unbelievable piece of
bad luck to play well in that half. To come back from 2-0 was a really good
effort and I can't fault the players. On another day, we might have taken
something from the game but that's another defeat.
"I hope the players will remember what a good performance they put in. It
would've been asking a lot for them to stop and people react instinctively.
They were behind the defence and they carried on and took it. It would've
been unrealistic to suggest they do otherwise. In the end, it cost us a
point, because they won by one goal.
"The way we approached the game towards the end, hitting the inside of the
post, I'm not sure the fans could've added anything more were they here but
we gave it our all."
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