This must have felt like a punch in the guts for Roy Hodgson. In his 200th match in charge, Crystal Palace succumbed to a 13th successive Premier League defeat by Chelsea after two goals from Conor Gallagher sealed a dramatic late comeback for Mauricio Pochettino’s side.
It was the cruellest blow for a manager who has already suffered so much this season as his team have struggled with injuries and a poor run of form that now stretches to two wins in their last 14 matches. But while things will not get any easier for Hodgson as his under-pressure team prepare for a trip to Everton, a club they have not beaten in their last seven attempts and currently occupy the final relegation spot, it was a different story for Pochettino’s team as they wrapped up the points in stoppage time with a third from Enzo Fernández.
That capped an unbelievable turnaround after a first half that saw Chelsea plumb new depths having failed to muster a single shot on target despite dominating the ball and conceding the opening goal to a thunderbolt from Jefferson Lerma. At least they can always rely on Gallagher – who scored eight times while on loan at Palace and now has four in six appearances against them.
Hodgson had described Palace’s current predicament as “the toughest period of my career for one reason, and that is that the fans have turned so much against us”. So a series of banners being held by home supporters as the teams kicked off, one of which took aim at “weak club culture and direction”, was not exactly what he needed.
The major criticism of the 76-year-old has been his unwillingness to give Palace’s young players an opportunity but on this occasion, Matheus França and Adam Wharton epitomised their fighting spirit on their full debuts that got the crowd on their side. Pochettino opted to start Cole Palmer as a false 9 with Nicolas Jackson operating down the left flank, while Gallagher was back at the ground where he enjoyed such success on loan two seasons ago. Not that it seemed to make much difference to Chelsea’s spluttering attack as neither side looked capable of raising the temperature on a chilly night in south London.
Thirteen of Palace’s 26 league goals this season have been scored or created by the injured Eberechi Eze or Michael Olise but Wharton showed his ability on his first full start since joining from Blackburn with a raking ball that almost played in Jean-Philippe Mateta. The French forward should have done better when he robbed the ball off Axel Disasi from a Chelsea throw-in but could only direct his shot straight at Djordje Petrovic.
If ever a game needed a lift then this was it and Lerma duly obliged. Tyrick Mitchell’s resilience made it all possible after a brilliant double tackle on Noni Madueke and Moisés Caicedo, although Chelsea were aggrieved that Lerma had fouled the Ecuador midfielder before hammering the ball into the net from 25 yards out. Selhurst Park erupted in a rare moment of celebration against their London rivals after a losing run that stretches back to a 2-1 win here in October 2017 courtesy of a winning goal from Wilfried Zaha.
He is long gone these days of course but despite their patched-up side, it was Palace who continued to pose more of a threat as a nonplussed Pochettino watched his side create nothing. Almost 80% of possession had yielded precisely one shot – skewed wide by Gallagher – by half-time. It could have been worse for Chelsea had the referee, Michael Oliver, ruled against Thiago Silva after he appeared to shove Daniel Muñoz over inside the area.
Both sets of fans joined in with a rendition of Bob Marley’s Three Little Birds during a delay to the start of the second half due to technical issues for Oliver. It seemed to spark Chelsea’s players into life as within 90 seconds, Gallagher had slammed home Malo Gusto’s cross to equalise and suddenly everything was all right again. Sort of.
With the half-time substitute Christopher Nkunku to the fore, Chelsea showed renewed attacking purpose as Palmer dragged his effort wide from another Gusto cross. Mateta saw his effort from a França through ball blocked by Silva following a late lunge from the veteran Brazilian that signalled the end of his night’s work.
Petrovic had to be alert to tip França’s shot from outside the area around his post, while Palmer could not beat Dean Henderson from a tight angle after an excellent interchange with Gusto. Mateta was denied a penalty late on after going down under a challenge from Levi Colwill before Gallagher struck with his hammer blow from Palmer’s pass in the first minute of stoppage time and Fernández sent Chelsea’s jubilant fans celebrating into the night.
