The optimist in Mauricio Pochettino will look at the persistence that brought Chelsea victory over Crystal Palace and see proof that it is possible to build something coherent out of this talented but infuriating collection of young talents. The pessimist, however, will find it hard to ignore the frailties that could easily have resulted in more frustration for his side.
It is no exaggeration to say it could have gone either way. Palace started brightly and had their moments after equalising through Michael Olise just before half-time. Chelsea dominated after Mykhailo Mudryk’s early goal, lost their way, and defied expectations by regaining the initiative just when it seemed they had resigned themselves to a draw that would have kept them in the bottom half and deepened the gloom around Stamford Bridge. One-one would have been fair. But so would 2-1 to Palace, or 4-1 to Chelsea, or maybe 2-2 after a last-gasp Matheus França equaliser.
