Win streak continues as Chelsea beat Palace 2-0

Chelsea won 2-0 against Crystal Palace, to make it 6 consecutive wins in the Premier League- their first time since the end of their most recent title-winning season in May 2017.

Tammy Abraham made it 1-0 in the 52nd minute after coolly slotting the ball past Palace keeper Vicente Guaita, and Christian Pulisic doubled his sides advantage with an instinctive header in the 79th.

Throughout the match Chelsea maintained a high tempo and could’ve easily came away with a lot more goals to show for their performance.

Crystal Palace, on the other hand, lacked quality in their final ball and they struggled to look threatening all game.

The likes of Wilfried Zaha and Jordan Ayew were silenced by strong defending from Chelsea and poor creativity from the away side-although, when either player had possession, they did very little with it.

Even though Chelsea weren’t at their free-flowing best, Frank Lampard will be impressed by his team’s performance, which temporarily moves them up to 2nd in the table.

Zaha struggles again

Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha is struggling to repeat his star performances he showed last season, and its clear Palace need him to get back into top form.

Palace have made a good start to their 19/20 campaign, however in order to perform through the important, busy winter schedule, Zaha needs to be contributing more.

Last season the Ivorian had 10 goals and assists, but Zaha has made 11 appearances in the league this season with neither to his name.

Zaha was linked with moves away to Everton, Arsenal and even Borussia Dortmund-Zaha had publicly shown his interest to depart from Selhurst Park with multiple transfer requests, but Palace decided to hold onto the 26-year-old (27 tomorrow).

Roy Hodgson has organised his side very well but, if Palace are to start getting results again, he’ll need Zaha to conjure up brilliance and pull his side through the upcoming fixture mayhem.

Lampard proving faith in youth is the way forward

Admittedly, Lampard was unable to sign any new players due to their transfer ban, but he still backed youth and it’s paying off.

In today’s match, ex Chelsea and England captain Lampard placed club captain Cesar Azpilicueta on the bench for the versatile Reece James.

James offered plenty going forward and prevented the likes of Zaha and Ayew to get a hold on the game.

Furthermore, players such as Mount, Abraham and Tomori have solidified their first team places with consistent, excellent performances.

The Chelsea manager could’ve easily selected world cup winner Olivier Giroud over Tammy Abraham, or even Gary Cahill instead of Fikayo Tomori at the start of the season, but his faith in the upcoming generation has paid off.

Man of the Match-Christian Pulisic (Chelsea)

American winger Pulisic has gone from struggling to get a chance to come off from the bench, to scoring 5 goals in his past 3 Premier League matches.

With pace and desire, he ran at the Palace backline all game and caused Andros Townsend to track back most of the match-although the latter didn’t matter, as Pulisic managed to get his head onto a rebounded shot to confirm the win for the home side.

He only made 5 successful key dribbles, but his presence down the Chelsea left hand side meant Palace dropped off allowing him the time to pass to his teammates-Martin Kelly and Joel Ward couldn’t handle him.

What’s next for both sides?

After the international break Chelsea will face Manchester City at the Etihad on the 23rd November, where as Crystal Palace play hosts to current league leaders Liverpool on the same day.