SLEEPY BLUES STAY UP LATE
Palace hit by Ziyech in last minute
HAKIM ZIYECH’S late winner sparked a rousing rendition of Chelsea’s new “Champions of the world, of the world” song from their fans at Selhurst Park.
But, as the away end filed out and headed for home, the more honest among them will have acknowledged their side’s performance was not quite befitting of their recently acquired status.
Yes, there were mitigating circumstances.
The Blues’ stars will understandably have been mentally and physically fatigued after trekking to and from Abu Dhabi to take on their fellow continental champions.
But even taking that into account, this was a tough watch and a display so far removed from those Chelsea produced early in the season, that it completely vindicated Thomas Tuchel’s claims there is much more to do if they want to win the Premier League again and not just cups.
Romelu Lukaku’s performance, in particular, was dreadful – he touched the ball only seven times, and one of those was from kickoff, a record low for 90-plus minutes.
But he wasn’t alone in lacking anything like the intensity required and Crystal Palace boss Patrick Vieira was right to claim his side deserved a point.
Tuchel was honest with his assessment of what he’d seen but there was also the positive of the fact they’d won ugly.
He said: “If you have a late win, you have the chance to move on, forget it and take the positive energy out of it, take it into the next game and not wake up tomorrow thinking, ‘Should we have scored there or there?’.
“In the moment, it is very important to install a little more fluidity in our game. We looked a little drained, a little exhausted, but we tried hard.
“I have to stay calm now because obviously you have no idea how a week like this works – we have six players with a cold from the air conditioning on the plane, we have jet lag from Abu Dhabi, and almost no player that slept well because of the time difference.”
Chances in the first half were few and far between with only one decent effort at either end.
The first fell to N’golo Kante, who was found superbly when Malang Sarr threaded through an incisive pass.
But his shot, while caught well enough, was always too close to Vicente Guaita in the Palace goal and the Spaniard, replaced by Jack Butland at half-time, did what he had to.
It was another good pass which, shortly into stoppage time at the end of the first period, opened up Chelsea, with Michael Olise slipping in Wilfried Zaha.
Zaha checked to bring the ball back on to his right foot and, from a tight angle, looked to curl his effort past Edouard Mendy, but it didn’t quite have the required bend. Thankfully, the second half was better, even if only just.
Antonio Rudiger’s tussle with Jordan Ayew put a bit of fire into the contest and Ziyech thought he’d given the visitors the lead when he fired home the loose ball after Butland had saved from Lukaku.
Rightly, however, the goal was ruled out because the Belgium international had strayed offside.
Ziyech was happier late on, though, when he tucked home a fine goal on the volley from Marcos Alonso’s deep cross.
The goalscorer said: “It was a difficult game with only a small number of chances, then the best feeling to score in the last minute.”
Eagles boss Vieira said: “It is frustrating to concede a goal like that at the end.
“We knew we needed to defend well as a team for 95 minutes and we did it quite well.
“That just shows the quality of the team, of Chelsea, and how important it is to keep concentration higher for all the game and we didn’t.
“But to get punished like that at the end is difficult because we deserved a draw.”