Chelsea claimed a narrow 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park to extend their unbeaten run to 11 matches in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon.
The match got off to a lively start with Palace clearly not willing to sit back, with the likes of Wilfred Zaha and Cristian Benteke pushing forward in the final third.
Zaha gets the better of Marcos Alonso down the right, creating space for the cross which reached James McArthur at the back post but he could not quite find Benteke with the knockdown.
In the 17th minute, the Blues playmaker Eden Hazard was pushed off the ball in a dangerous area, with David Luiz standing over the free-kick but he doesn’t quite get a connection on it, as fizzed along the ground before going out for a corner.
Meanwhile, Diego Costa clipped the heels of Yohan Cabaye and was shown a yellow card. That’s his fifth of the season and he’ll have Christmas off, missing the Boxing Day visit of Bournemouth through suspension.
Martin Kelly whipped a cross into the box in the 38th minute with James McArthur storming into the box and rises above his markers to get a header in but his effort drifted wide of the target.
However, Costa broke the deadlock in the 43rd minute after headering the ball into the back of the net from a Cesar Azpilicueta’s cross to give his side a 1-0 lead over Palace.
After the first 45 minutes of play, the Blues went into the half-time interval with a 1-0 lead over Palace.
at the start of the second half, Palace pressed forward with Zaha, who cushioned his headed effort back to Yohan Cabaye, who smacked his shot goalwards but it sailed just wide of the upright in the 47th minute.
Five minutes into the second half, N’Golo Kante came close to doubling his side’s lead with a stinging shot at goal which falls straight into the hands of Palace goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey.
As the match went on, Chelsea started flexing their muscles a bit more with Marcos Alonso’s volleyed effort sneaking in at the back post but his strike could only find the side-netting.
Just after an hour of play, substitute Cesc Fabregas ghosted into the box after being picked out by Hazard with a pass along the ground but the midfielder’s strike rolls straight through to the Palace keeper.
Kante had another chance to double his side’s lead in the 73rd minute after sending his shot towards the bottom corner but Hennessey gets down to make an expert save to deny the Frenchman.
In the 82nd minute, Alonso came close to putting his side ahead even further after his sensational free-kick beat the Palace shot-stopper before hitting the crossbar.
However, Antonio Conte’s side held on until the final whistle as they walked away with all three points after securing a 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace.
Image: Premier League website
