Noni Madueke converted an 89th-minute penalty as Chelsea battled to a 2-1 win over Crystal Palace in their final home match of 2023.
The Blues went into the match closer to the bottom of the table than the top four in terms of points, and looking to avoid an extraordinary 20th Premier League defeat of the calendar year.
Mauricio Pochettino's side did that via a much-needed win, extended their unbeaten run on home soil to six matches across all competitions and moving them up to 10th in the table at the halfway stage of the season.
It was been a promising start to the night for the Blues, as Christopher Nkunku, making his full debut, slid the ball wide to Malo Gusto, who picked out Mykhailo Mudrykand the Ukrainian was on hand to send a first-time effort past Dean Henderson.
That though was a lead Chelsea surrendered in added-time at the end of the first-half, as some slack defending was ruthlessly punished. Jordan Ayew pinged a ball to the back post, where Michael Olise was left completely free to bring it down with his first touch and finish with his second.
There was very little to get the home fans excited in the second-half, with plenty to leave them frustrated as the Blues failed to offer a serious threat in attack.
That was until Nicolas Jackson missed a huge chance to put his side back in front, only to lift a finish wide when clean through on goal, and while the striker did have the ball in the net barely a couple of minutes later, it was duly ruled out by VAR for offside.
The frustration for Chelsea continued until the very closing stages, when Noni Madueke went down under a challenge from Eberechi Eze. Play was waved on but, after consulting the pitchside monitor, the referee overturned his original decision to point to the spot. Madueke was cool in sending Henderson the wrong way, as Chelsea won at home in the Premier League for just the sixth time in 2023.
