ZAHA BLOWS IT WIDE OPEN
Big Sam wears the biggest grin after his Palace side breathe life into the 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 postmatch 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 about 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 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 apiece 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.
Certainly, Zaha and Benteke made Chelsea’s defence look more uncomfortable than it has all season and Conte made it clear he is keenly aware of the importance of Wednesday night’s match against Manchester City at Stamford Bridge.
That was why Palace did the rest of the league a favour here. Excitement had drained out of the title race as Chelsea marched unerringly towards their target and attention switched to the battle to finish in the top four. Now things are a lot more interesting.
It was a huge result for Palace, too, especially after Hull beat West Ham. The victory keeps Palace four points clear of the relegation zone and drags Burnley and West Ham into the battle at the bottom. The Palace players celebrated wildly with their fans at the end.
Chelsea had begun the day 10 points clear with 10 games to go. Recently, their every win has been greeted as the game that clinched the title. Their 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 byline and found Joel Ward isolated in front of him. Hazard dribbled around Ward and crossed to the near post. Fabregas had hurtled into the box and he clipped the ball past Wayne Hennessey and in off the post.
But Palace hit back quickly. Benteke held the ball up with his back to goal and laid it off to Zaha on the edge of the area. Zaha was surrounded by 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 Palace 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.
The chances kept coming. Midway through the half, Hennessey saved smartly from Diego Costa’s close-range shot, blocking it with his body when the effort wrongfooted him as he scrambled across his goal. Chelsea made a flurry of chances before half-time but Hennessey beat away shots from Hazard and Nemanja Matic to preserve Palace’s lead.
Chelsea were laying siege to the Palace goal by now and Hennessey dived at full length to deflect a driven cross from Hazard away from danger and then saw a fierce shot from Cesar Azpilicueta fly over the crossbar. When Chelsea tried to pass their way into the Palace box, there was no way past the yellow wall.
In the second half, the same pattern continued. Chelsea camped in the Palace half and Palace defended for their lives. Ten minutes into the half, it seemed Conte’s side would equalise when a deep cross from Pedro found Costa in space at the back post 10 yards out.
But it was typical of Palace’s commitment that when Costa chested the ball down, Scott Dann, a halftime substitute for James Tomkins, threw himself into the block with such abandon that he was injured in a collision and carried off on a stretcher.
Palace were still capable of hurting Chelsea on the break though and might have gone further ahead on the hour. Zaha was the danger man once again, outstripping Cesar Azpilicueta and arrowing his shot towards the corner of the goal. Zaha thought he had scored but Courtois stuck out his left boot and deflected the ball wide.
Chelsea missed another golden chance to equalise 15 minutes from time when Hazard twisted and turned his marker out of shape on the byline and curled a cross into the box.
Costa rose to meet it six yards out but could only head it wide. The crowd groaned and Conte, not for the first time in the game, turned away and put his hands on his head.
Now the Chelsea siege got serious. Palace defended with everything they had.
Their box was like a game of pinball.
Sakho made two last-ditch clearances, crosses flew across the face of goal, begging for the touch that would bring the equaliser. Hennessey saved at his near post.
Allardyce and his assistant, Sammy Lee, grew increasingly animated in the Palace technical area, not least when the fourth official held up the board indicating there would be seven minutes of added time. Chelsea did not let up. And still Palace clung on.