toptop
Chelsea
turned it on in the second half to beat Crystal Palace 4-0 at Stamford Bridge,
with Ben Chilwell scoring and assisting on his Premier League debut for the
Blues.
Chelsea struggled to break down Palace's low block in the first half, despite
having all of the ball, but got their breakthrough just after the break as
Chilwell slammed home from eight yards as the visitors failed to clear (50).
Chilwell was involved in the second as his cross from the left was brilliantly
headed home by Kurt Zouma (66), before Jorginho slotted two penalties (78 and
82) after Tammy Abraham was brought down by Tyrick Mitchell and Mamadou Sakho
had tripped Kai Havertz.
The result means Chelsea bounced following disappointing results against
Liverpool, West Brom and Tottenham, while Palace now have two wins and two
defeats from their first four.
Player ratings
Chelsea: Mendy (6), Azpilicueta (7), Thiago Silva (7), Zouma
(8), Chilwell (8), Kante (8), Jorginho (7), Hudson-Odoi (6), Havertz (6), Werner
(5), Abraham (6)
Subs: Kovacic (NA), Pulisic (NA)
Crystal Palace: Guaita (5), Ward (5), Sakho (4), Kouyate (5),
Mitchell (5), Townsend (6), McArthur (6), McCarthy (5), Eze (6), Zaha (5), Ayew
(5)
Subs: Milivojevic (5), Riedewald (5)
Man of the match: Ben Chilwell
How Chelsea turned it on to break stubborn
Palace
Frank Lampard selected his 21st different defensive line-up in 42 Premier League
games as Ben Chilwell made his league debut for Chelsea, but they were untested
in the first half as the hosts had all the ball but no bite.
Timo Werner was forced to drop deep and even swap wings with Callum Hudson-Odoi
as Palace sat deep and defended well, and on one rare occasion Chelsea did break
through Kai Havertz, team-mate Werner couldn't capitalise as his first-time
effort was comfortably saved by Vicente Guaita.
Chelsea improved in the second half, however, and got the crucial breakthrough
through Chilwell on his Premier League debut; after Sakho failed to clear, the
ball fortuitously fell to Chilwell on the half volley on the left of the box,
and he slammed the ball past Guaita left-footed.
Zouma glanced a good headed chance from a Chilwell corner wide shortly after,
but then got his goal from another wide delivery from the same source, rising
above Sakho and looping a superb header into the top right corner from
Chilwell's left-wing cross from deep.
Chilwell is just the third player to both score and assist a goal on their
Premier League debut for Chelsea, after Deco in August 2008 and Alvaro Morata in
August 2017.
Abraham powered a header inches wide from Hudson-Odoi's delivery, and the
striker was involved again in the third as a fine turn in the box forced
Mitchell to trip him for a spot-kick. Jorginho stepped up, rolling the ball
bottom right as Guaita went left.
There was another penalty four minutes later as Sakho left a leg on Havertz just
inside the box, and despite Abraham wanting to take the resulting spot-kick,
captain Cesar Azpilcueta took the ball off the striker and handed it to
Jorginho. The decision proved correct, as Jorginho again rolled home, his 10th
penalty scored from 11 taken.
Regarding Abraham wanting to take the penalty, Lampard told BT Sport after the
game: "It's been dealt with. No problems. Just dealt with. I want leaders - and
a little bit of conflict. It's good that Tammy was enthusiastic but you don't
jump ahead of the list."
It was a satisfying victory in the end for Lampard after a laboured opening, and
good proof that £50m was well spend on left-back Chilwell, while N'Golo Kante
also impressed immensely, protecting what had been a leaky Chelsea defence.
Download the Pitch to Post Preview podcast on: Spotify | Apple | Castbox |
Spreaker
What the managers said...
Chelsea boss Frank Lampard on Callum Hudson-Odoi: "Callum is absolutely part of
my plans here. I'm very pleased with him. By Monday we will know a definitive
answer. If they've declared their interest then that's one thing, but everything
that happens by Monday will be either things that are firstly good for us as a
club.
"Callum's our player, and also what Callum wants will come into consideration,
but it has to be right for everybody. At the minute I want Callum part of my
squad."
Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson: "All defeats are difficult to take. When you
get beaten this heavily it's harder. In the first half I thought we defended
well, but we gifted goals via individual defensive errors.
"It's very hard to overcome that. Three of four were down to errors you hope
your defenders aren't going to make. We didn't [attack enough]. I didn't think
our attacking play was very good. We didn't have enough composure on the ball.
"We must give Chelsea credit, of course, they made it difficult to get that
passing and movement that we wanted."
Opta stats
Chelsea have won six consecutive league games against Crystal Palace for the
first time in their history.
Chelsea have won more Premier League London derbies than any other side (133),
losing just one of their last 11 such games at Stamford Bridge (W8 D2).
Crystal Palace have lost nine of their last 12 Premier League matches (W2 D1),
losing the last two in a row.
Jorginho became the second Chelsea player to score two goals from the penalty
spot in a single Premier League game after Frank Lampard versus Aston Villa in
March 2010.
What's next?
Chelsea now host Southampton in the Premier League after the international break
on October 17 at 3pm.
Crystal Palace host rivals Brighton on October 18, live on Sky Sports Premier
League at 2pm.
Click Here For Official Team Sheet
Teams
Chelsea Mendy, Azpilicueta (c), Zouma, Silva, Chilwell,
Jorginho, Kante (Kovacic 83), Hudson-Odoi (Pulisic 83), Havertz, Werner, Abraham
Subs Not Used Kepa, Tomori, James, Mount, Giroud
Booked Azpilicueta, Kante
Goals Chilwell 50, Zouma 66, Jorginho 78 (pen), 82 (pen)
Crystal Palace Guaita, Ward, Kouyate, Sakho, Mitchell,
Townsend, McArthur (Riedewald 72), McCarthy (Milivojevic 67), Eze, Zaha (c),
Ayew
Subs Not Used Hennessey, Dann, Kelly, Meyer, Benteke
Booked
Goals
Attendance 0
Referee Michael Oliver
VAR Andre Marriner