Who would have thought week 8 would bring us the biggest upsets of the English Premier League. Crystal Palace takes all three points against Antonio Conte’s, Chelsea.
Chelsea started the game without their key midfielder, N’Golo Kante and clearly judging by the 2-1 score line to Palace, he was sorely missed. After suffering their third defeat, many believe Chelsea’s hope of retaining their title glory, has dissolved early on in the campaign.
Roy Hodgson and the Palace supporters’ smiles displayed the magnitude of the win and what it meant to finally put points on the board. After not scoring a goal from week 1 to week 7, Palace put two goals past Thibaut Courtois. This deserves all the praises it receives.
After the Blues equalised there was over enough chances for them to actually take the game away from the home side. But the Palace defence stood firm and showed a strong tenacity to keep the score in their favour.
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Match stats:
Crystal Palace | Stat | Chelsea |
| 43% | Possession | 57% |
| 71% | Pass Accuracy | 82% |
| 14 | Total Shots | 15 |
| 5 | Shots on Target | 5 |
| 5 | Corners | 8 |
| 23 | Tackles | 23 |
| 1 | Offsides | 6 |
| 7 | Fouls | 6 |
| 2 | Yellow Cards | 1 |
| 0 | Red Cards | 0 |
How Crystal Palace managed to take the game away from Chelsea:
One of the main reasons as to why Palace did so well was the inclusion of winger, Wilfred Zaha. He was involved in almost every move going forward and was a nightmare to deal with for Chelsea’s back line.
His goal that came just after the break in the 45th minute of the game was the decider of the match. The goal from the Englishman was there to justify the electrifying performance he put on display.
Chelsea’s defence was clearly missing its protection, as they allowed the team at the bottom of the table to slip two past them. Even though Hazard was on the pitch, he sometimes appeared to be missing for the Blues.
Fabregas was Chelsea’s main man but was a crossbar short of putting the game in Chelsea’s favour. The champions had a bad day in the shooting department after only finding the net once in 15 attempts at goal.
Antonio Conte’s post match press conference:
What next for both London clubs?
Crystal Palace needs to build on this victory, when they visit Newcastle over the weekend. They have a tough ask against a side stealing points all over the place.
They have over enough opportunities to push themselves up the table. Teams above them haven’t been consistent enough to guaranty Palace see the drop, come the end of the season. They have it all to play for and could turn things around for Roy Hodgson after this trialling triumph.
The previous champions are all out of sorts. A bench nowhere near the quality of the two Manchester clubs, it will be hard for them to bounce back and take the title again.
Their form puts them in familiar waters to the season they missed a Champions League spot. Key players such as Hazard, Alonso and others, need to step up and apply themselves better in games. When they go missing, so do the results.
Conte has a lot to do with a frail side and maybe needs to think about dipping into the market for another striker to help out at the top end of the pitch. They have a big home fixture against Arsenal beaters, Watford.