With a comfortable 3-1 victory at Crystal Palace, Chelsea FC temporarily secured fourth place. The standout player was Brazilian Estevao, who scored one goal and assisted another.
With the top three teams in the Premier League already out of reach, Chelsea FC wanted to secure at least fourth place and the last Champions League spot with a win at Crystal Palace. The Blues were lucky at first that Mateta failed to capitalize on a serious mistake by Badiashile, with the attacker failing to beat Sanchez in a one-on-one situation (8th minute).
CFC then invested more up front and made their presence felt with shots from Fernandez (14th minute) and Caicedo (17th minute). After just over half an hour, the visitors benefited from a disastrous back pass from Palace youngster Canvot, who inadvertently sent Estevao on his way. The right winger was unstoppable for Mitchell and gave Henderson no chance either – 1-0 for Chelsea (34′).
The home side couldn’t come up with anything else for the rest of the first half, while at the other end, Estevao narrowly missed from close range (44′). After the restart, however, the Brazilian set up the visitors’ second goal early on. With a beautiful lob, the winger sent Joao Pedro through on goal, who cut inside and made it 2-0 (50′).
Fernandez seals the deal early from the spot
The Blues slowly but surely played themselves into an offensive frenzy that the home side had little to counter. Joao Pedro had another chance after good work from his congenial partner Estevao. Palace defender Canvot was in the way, but he blocked the shot with his hand (59′). It was a case for VAR, who decided on a penalty after a lengthy review. The referee did not show a red card, as the ball was blocked unintentionally. It was not until five minutes later that Fernandez finally stepped up and confidently converted to make it 3-0 (64′).
Frustration spread among Glasner’s team, culminating in Wharton’s sending-off. Just five minutes after receiving his first yellow card, he brought Caicedo down with a rough tackle and was shown a second yellow card in the 72nd minute. After that, the home side lost heart, while Chelsea were satisfied. Johnson did get Palace back into the game with a shot that whizzed just past the left post (76′). And yet the fans at Selhurst Park had something to cheer about again when former Munich player Richards headed in the ball that had been played to him by Riad (88′).
Nothing else happened after that, and Chelsea moved past Liverpool into fourth place. Palace, meanwhile, failed to win again and slipped to 15th place after eight league games without a win, which is unlikely to appease coach Glasner after the discord between him and the club’s management became public knowledge.
Crystal Palace will continue their campaign next Sunday (3 p.m.) at Nottingham Forest. Chelsea are already in Champions League action on Wednesday (9 p.m.) at SSC Napoli.