HAZARD TAKES JUST A MERE 91 SECONDS!
Sarri’s super sub rips a point away from Palace as Chelsea maintain their impressive form
FOR a brief moment Crystal Palace believed. But then Chelsea threw on Eden Hazard and, well, you know the rest.
This London derby was evenly poised at 1-1 when Maurizio Sarri sent for his mercurial Belgian, who’d missed the previous three games with a back injury, in the 64th minute.
Ninety-one seconds later, Chelsea were ahead — inevitably Hazard was the instigator, his cross sweetly struck home by Alvaro Morata. Even by Hazard’s standards, this was quite an introduction. But are we surprised?
Not for the first time at Stamford Bridge, Hazard dragged his team over the line as the Blues maintained their unbeaten start.
Victory moved Chelsea to second place behind Manchester City. Whisper it, but the feeling Chelsea can be Pep Guardiola side’s nearest challengers this season is growing.
With Hazard in the team, who’d bet against them? Along with the Belgian, striker Morata was the other big winner.
His brace, which took his season’s tally to six, will do his confidence no harm, even if he missed a golden chance to complete his hattrick with virtually the last kick of the game.
The early exchanges offered little insight of how this game would finish as Palace made light of their struggles to start brightly.
Wilfried Zaha led the charge, but by the end it was the same old story for Palace, who had scored five goals from open play ahead of this game. Palace will back Roy Hodgson with substantial funds to sign a goalscorer in January.
Talismanic Zaha conjured the first chance, teeing up Max Meyer on the edge of the box only for the German to fire wildly over in the 20th minute. Zaha set up Meyer again soon after, only for the midfielder to miss again.
Such wastefulness rarely goes unpunished in the Premier League. So Chelsea’s 32ndminute opener was entirely predictable, Morata neatly converted from close range from Pedro’s pass.
And by the end of the opening 45 minutes, Palace were fortunate the deficit wasn’t increased.
Willian’s effort, after Pedro’s shot was charged down, was narrowly ruled out for offside before Morata looped a header just over the bar.
Last week’s point against Arsenal offered Palace hope that all was not lost. That may well have been the gist of Hodgson’s half-time message.
Whatever the Eagles boss said in the dressing room, it worked wonders as Palace struck a surprise leveller eight minutes after the restart. James McArthur’s through ball was inch-perfect, Andros Townsend didn’t have to break stride as he sped past David Luiz to bear down on goal.
The finish was unerring — low down to Kepa’s right. The ball was past the Spanish keeper before he could react.
Yet, Hodgson’s heart was in his mouth moments later when Wayne Hennessey produced an excellent stop to deny Morata’s bullet header — though the goal wouldn’t have stood after the striker was ruled offside.
Hennessey was at full stretch again in the 63rd minute to deny Luiz’s header from Willian’s cross.
But suddenly, a game that looked to be heading in one direction at half-time was in the balance.
So Sarri sent for the cavalry; Hazard sent on for Willian, while Matteo Kovacic replaced Ross Barkley.
The Belgian’s impact was immediate. His free kick caused utter havoc in the Palace area — Mamadou Sakho making a hash of a headed clearance.
Lurking unmarked at the back post was Morata, who gobbled up the opportunity to fire a low, angled drive past Hennessey to make it 2-1.
Five minutes later, Chelsea put the game out of reach when Pedro slotted home Marcos Alonso’s low cross to ease Sarri’s late anxiety.
Chelsea’s next two Premier League games against Everton and Tottenham will provide a much sterner test of their title credentials. But until then, Sarri’s stock continues to soar.