A SLITHER OF HOPE
Palace stun Chelsea and breathe life into title race
THE title jitters got to Chelsea at last in the spring sunshine at Stamford Bridge yesterday. Anointed champions well before winter’s end, they had started to seem immune to nerves but just when it appeared no one could stop them, they faltered.
‘That shocked you all, didn’t it,’ Crystal Palace manager Sam Allardyce said with a big grin as he settled into his seat at the post-match press conference. And he was right. No one saw this one coming. No one saw Chelsea’s serene march towards the title being rudely interrupted like this.
It would be pushing it to say Chelsea are vulnerable now. It would be wrong to identify a trend in a first defeat since early January. But even though they are still overwhelming favourites for the league, they must guard against a collapse in confidence. It has happened before.
Put it this way: if Sir Alex Ferguson were at the helm of one of the forlorn chasing pack, he would be mentioning Devon Loch some time around now. It will take something as spectacular as its slip in the 1956 Grand National to derail Antonio Conte’s side but defeat can breed defeat.
Chelsea did not even play badly yesterday but they fell to defeat to a Palace side led quite brilliantly by Wilfried Zaha and Christian Benteke, who scored a goal each in their side’s 2-1 victory.
It was Chelsea’s first reverse since they lost to Spurs at the start of January and it has given Spurs, who are seven points behind, a hint of hope.
Chelsea’s lead looked impregnable and they appeared to have ended what little uncertainty there might be about the result within the first five minutes.
Cesc Fabregas hit a superb raking ball over the top of the Palace defence for Eden Hazard who took the ball to the byeline and found Joel Ward isolated in front of him. The Belgain dribbled the ball around Ward and crossed to the near post. Fabregas had hurtled into the box after delivering his initial pass and clipped the ball past Wayne Hennessey and in off the post.
But Palace struck back quickly. Benteke held the ball up with his back to goal and laid it off to Zaha on the edge of the Chelsea area. The Ivorian was surrounded by Chelsea defenders but somehow he found space and squeezed a shot through the crowd. Thibaut Courtois saw it late and it flew past his outstretched right hand.
A minute later, Palace stunned the Bridge by taking the lead. Benteke led a swift counter attack and ran at the Chelsea defence. When he was tackled, the ball broke to Zaha, who played it straight back to Benteke. Courtois dived at his feet but Benteke delayed cleverly and lifted the ball gently over the goalkeeper and into the net.
Chelsea then laid siege to the Palace goal. Ten minutes into the
second half, it seemed Conte’s side would equalise when a deep cross from Pedro found Diego Costa in space at the back post ten yards out.
But it was typical of Palace’s commitment that when Costa chested the ball down, Scott Dann, a half-time substitute for James Tomkins, should throw himself into the block with such abandon that he was injured in a collision and carried off on a stretcher.
Conte admitted that it might just be game on for the title.
He said: ‘For sure, for you (the media) it’s a good result, because it makes this more interesting in the championship.’
‘But I always said the league finishes when you have the mathematical (certainty) that you won.
‘Otherwise you must fight, you must play every game to try to win. There are no easy games.’