Crystal Palace stun Chelsea to end their goal drought and pick up their first Premier League points of the season
Crystal Palace 2 Chelsea 1: Wilfried Zaha returned to the fray for Palace and inspired the struggling side to an unlikely victory over Antonio Conte's title chasers
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Wilfried Zaha is not the messiah but he is a very talented boy and the Ivorian’s performance mirrored that of his team on a day when the Eagles looked at times unstoppable but at others beset by a fragile self-confidence and, at the end, leggy and holding on.
Ultimately though, they were victorious. Zaha especially. Sidelined with injury as Palace fell to defeat after defeat, goals as rare as hen’s teeth, Zaha restored their bite. Chelsea’s shallow squad once again looked like it had bitten off more than it could chew.
This was a game that started with one team playing no striker and finished with neither bothering to. Zaha, out of position, led the line for his side in the absence of any senior alternative at the club and his bewitching trickery coupled with an under-appreciated tenacity marked him out once again as Palace’s most important player.
Zaha was not the only star for Palace on the day but he provided the majority of their dangerous moments and their winner on the cusp of half-time. By that point in an action-packed first half we had seen the Eagles break their 731-minute Premier League goal drought, ended in a manner as close to the proverbial ‘off-the-backside’ as possible without a ball touching someone’s derrière.
Yohan Cabaye’s prodded effort went in via two Chelsea defenders, eventually chalked up as an own goal by Cesar Azpilicueta, and while the ball left Thibaut Courtois rooted and helpless, Selhurst Park was on its feet, in raptures.
This ground is rarely better than when there are richer, more heralded London rivals in town. Such is life in the capital that nearly all of the sell-out crowd in SE25 will know a Chelsea fan who has paraded their success as Palace fizzle and pop below the Premier League’s elite.
It is only a few miles from the well-heeled environs that Chelsea are used to down to the somewhat grubbier charm of Norwood but that becomes a strength on days like these, and in front of a stadium that has not been this loud since Palace emphatically secured their Premier League status with a 4-0 win over Hull in the final home game of last season, they held on to a 2-1 win here to a backdrop of constant noise.
Chelsea dominated much of the second half and a ten-minute period after their 18th-minute equaliser. That goal, headed home by Tiemoue Bakayoko, had come from nothing with three white shirts outnumbered two-to-one by Palace defenders. But the Eagles’ fragile confidence was shattered and it took some time to rebuild.
Curiously, after impressing so much with their attacking in the early exchanges, what restored Palace’s spark with the scores level was a last-ditch block from Joel Ward, a defender told very plainly by Frank de Boer that he wasn’t good enough but sufficient here to prevent Eden Hazard - quiet on the day - from scoring at the last possible moment.
From that Palace rebuilt and regrew, as they have had to in many ways over the past month, and took the lead as time ticked down on the first period.
It all began with Mamadou Sakho on a day when much of the good play Palace put together had done so. The Frenchman probably doesn’t get the credit he deserves as a ball-player but Palace are counting points not compliments these days. Sakho strolled forward in possession again and failed to find Zaha but regained the ball, this time picking his man in the Bermuda Triangle between Davide Zappacosta, David Luiz and Cesar Azpilicueta. Wiggling through in that way he does, Zaha found himself one-on-one with Courtois and curled the ball inside the far post.
Had he been fully fit he probably would have had more. His legs clearly escaped him on two breakaway opportunities late in proceedings, so out of puff that his decision-making was affected. But he was still not replaced, Palace’s most vital outlet and emblematic superstar was too valuable, even at 60%.
And so the last act of this production would play out in the usual way; backs to the wall, hearts in mouths and, eventually, joy unbound. Had Patrick van Aanholt tucked a rebound into an empty net after Zaha’s shot was parried then it needn’t have been such a palpitating finish. Had Zaha been fully fit he probably would have completed the job himself.
But the whos, whats and whys didn’t matter so much on the whistle here. The points did. The goals did and, now, the hope does.
If we are honest, nobody expects Crystal Palace to survive in the Premier League this season and, looking at the maths, you can see why.
But there were 26,000 people at Selhurst Park today who saw plenty of reason to believe. And Wilfried Zaha is only one part of that.
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