Chelsea 3-1 Crystal Palace: the winners and losers as Sarri’s unbeaten Premier League start continues

in , , , , , , ,

Chelsea have moved up to second in the Premier League thanks to a 3-1 win over Crystal Palace at Stamford Bridge.

After a poor opening 30 minutes, Chelsea took the lead as Alvaro Morata showed good skill to control and volley in from close range.

Their lead lasted just 20 minutes as Andros Townsend made a brilliant run into space to equalise for Palace.

But Morata got his second of the game drilling the ball in from Eden Hazard’s free-kick and Pedro rounded off the scoring moments later to keep Maurizio Sarri’s unbeaten start going.

Here are the winners and losers of the well-contested London derby.

Winner: Alvaro Morata

Alvaro Morata’s almost rollercoaster-like Chelsea career has taken another shot up. After scoring against Burnley last weekend, the Spaniard was poor in midweek against Derby County in the Carabao Cup, really struggling to make too much of an impact.

But Morata opened the scoring for Chelsea against Palace on Sunday, with one of his few chances in the first half.

With the ball drilled into his feet by compatriot Pedro, Morata neatly flicked the ball up to free up some space from Aaron Wan-Bissaka before volleying it past Wayne Hennessey and into the back of the net.

It also brought up just the second time the Spaniard has scored in consecutive Premier League games for Chelsea since November last year, adding to his cause to be Chelsea’s first-choice striker.

And his first-half effort was not enough for the Spaniard, as Morata fired Chelsea ahead once more after Palace had levelled, beating Hennessey from a tight angle.

The goals also meant Morata has scored four in his last four Premier League games having managed just two in his previous 19 since the start of 2018.

Loser: David Luiz

David Luiz has been revitalised under Maurizio Sarri at Chelsea, finding his way back into the starting XI after looking likely to leave in the summer following a falling out with Antonio Conte.

But the Brazilian is still showing signs of the defender Conte cast aside with moments of madness which Gary Neville once compared to a 12-year-old playing PlayStation.

Against Crystal Palace it came after 52 minutes as he looked to read the game and stepped forward to try and close down his man. But what Luiz didn’t take into consideration was the space he was leaving behind him for Townsend to run into.

James McArthur played the inch-perfect ball into the space, leaving Luiz to chase Townsend to no avail as Palace equalised.

Luiz may be a Sarrismo-level passer, but his defending could do with a little work.

Winner: Andros Townsend

Andros Townsend loves playing against Chelsea.

In equalising for Palace shortly after half-time, Townsend scored his third goal against the Blues in the Premier League – the most he has managed against a single opponent.

The goal also ended a drought of 19 league games for the winger, who last scored for Palace against Manchester United in March 2018.

But it wasn’t just the goal, as the former Tottenham Hotspur man enjoyed some luck in attack against Cesar Azpilicueta in the early stages of the match, really troubling the Spaniard.

Townsend was also given the early task of man-marking Jorginho to ensure the Italian could have as little impact on the game as possible, which worked well enough for the opening 30 minutes. Despite the defeat it was a promising performance for Townsend.

Loser: Wilfried Zaha

“He’s just too good for you,” the Crystal Palace fans sing but the irony of the chant is that Wilfried Zaha is far too good for the Eagles.

Zaha is by far and away the best player at Crystal Palace and, understandably, a lot of their hopes for success fall at the feet of the Ivorian. But it is too much.

Against Chelsea Zaha was, once again, very good, looking to get at the Blues defence and causing some serious problems. But the issue was, once he got into advanced positions he was expected to go for goal on his own with team-mates not giving enough support.

At times Crystal Palace’s attacks were just Zaha trying to push his side as far up the pitch as he could before being crowded by out Chelsea’s defence.

Even when Palace equalised through Andros Townsend, Zaha was left isolated in the Chelsea half as the Eagles were outplayed once again, cutting a frustrated figure with things not going his way.

Winner: Eden Hazard

One minute. That’s all it took for Eden Hazard to make an impact on the match after coming on from the bench.

The Belgian was not fit enough to start against Palace having suffered with a back injury but had to be brought on to try and unlock the Eagles’ defence with the scores level.

And almost instantaneously Hazard won a free-kick midway into Palace’s half which he took himself, sending a floated ball into the back post with Morata put away with aplomb.

Last week Chelsea showed they could manage without Hazard but against Palace the Belgian reminded his club just how much they do need him.

Loser: Cesar Azpilicueta

Cesar Azpilicueta is usually a solid defender for Chelsea, very rarely putting a foot wrong since becoming a mainstay in the starting XI.

But this season the Spaniard has looked slightly off the pace at times, including against Crystal Palace on Sunday.

From the start Palace aimed their attacks down Azpilicueta’s flank and had a lot of luck getting past the Spaniard to the byline with relative ease.

In attack things just weren’t coming off for the Spaniard with misplaced passes and crosses giving Palace possession far too easily.

This is by no means a sign of decline for Azpilicueta, but it is unusual for a man who has built a reputation on being Mr. Reliable.

Winner: Maurizio Sarri

The man himself won’t really care about personal achievements, seeing his Chelsea side move up to second in the Premier League, but they should still be celebrated.

A win over Palace on Sunday meant Sarri has drawn level with former Nottingham Forest boss Frank Clark in having the best unbeaten start to management in the Premier League at 11 games.

Sarri has started better than many expected at Chelsea given the circumstances over the summer with Antonio Conte, meaning the former Napoli boss arrived later than he would have liked, and the implementation of a new system on players accustomed to Conte’s 3-4-3 formation.

But this has had little baring on the Blues’ performances this season with Sarrismo looking in full-swing already, though Sarri himself insists there is still a long way to go.

Loser: Ross Barkley

Ross Barkley has had a good spell as a starter for Chelsea, scoring a goal in each of his past three Premier League games.

But the Englishman struggled to make an impact against Crystal Palace as the Eagles’ midfield held strong to combat Chelsea’s style of play. Barkley did see a lot of the ball and completed an impressive 92% of his passes but never really troubled his opponents.

And it was obviously seen by Sarri too with the Englishman lasting just 63 minutes before being replaced by Mateo Kovacic with Chelsea looking for the win.

To make matters worse for Barkley, Kovacic did well coming on from the bench, linking up with Hazard and Pedro to push Chelsea forward as the driving force from midfield.

The post Chelsea 3-1 Crystal Palace: the winners and losers as Sarri’s unbeaten Premier League start continues appeared first on Squawka News.



From Squawka NewsSquawka News https://ift.tt/2PGLNtJ
Labels: , , , , , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)