Chelsea have developed a useful habit of leaving things until the last minute and it needed a late volley from Hakim Ziyech to snatch a victory that was scarcely deserved.
But having arrived here shorn of wingbacks and being forced into a tactical reshuffle a few days after being crowned world champions, Thomas Tuchel was certainly not complaining.
“It’s not been a normal week – we are just trying to survive at the moment,” said Chelsea’s manager. “There were a lot of reasons why I didn’t expect us to be on top form today but we managed to take something positive. We look a bit drained and everyone is looking for that spark at the moment.”
Four weeks had passed since Chelsea’s victory over Tottenham in their last Premier League match and they have required extra-time to progress past Plymouth and Palmeiras in the intervening period.
The latter in Abu Dhabi last week meant their kits proudly sported a new badge signifying their status as World Club champions – an honour that has clearly been welcomed at Stamford Bridge.
In a rare departure for their manager since his arrival last January, they started with a four-man defence with Andreas Christensen deployed at right-back, while there were recalls for Christian Pulisic and Ziyech in attack.
Patrick Vieira made four changes from Palace’s last match –a drab 0-0 draw at Brentford – but surprisingly chose Wilfried Zaha to lead his forward line and left three centre-forwards on the bench. It was even more surprising to see Jean-Philippe Mateta introduced after Palace had conceded having been pressing hard for what would have been their first Premier League win of 2022 for large parts of the second half.
“It was frustrating to concede like that at the end because we defended well for most of the match,” Vieira said. “We lost some concentration and that has cost us a point that we deserved.”
With loanee Conor Gallagher ineligible to face his parent club, it was up to Zaha and Michael Olise to inspire the hosts on a windswept afternoon.
That combination almost paid dividends early on after an excellent ball from Jeffrey Schlupp found the Ivory Coast forward in aces of space but Olise’s shot dribbled just past the far post. Having made a slow start as they seemed to adjust to the unfamiliar formation, it was Antonio Rüdiger who finally sparked Chelsea into life when his piledriver from 35 yards was tipped over by Vicente Guaita. The Spaniard then had to be at his best to deny N’golo Kanté following a precise through ball from Malang Sarr.
Palace looked dangerous on the few occasions when they managed to beat Chelsea’s press and were twice just inches away from connecting to pinpoint crosses from the left foot of Olise, who was on Chelsea’s books until the age of 14. A slaloming run from the 20-year-old that carved open the visitors’ defence just before half-time should have created the opening goal, only for Zaha to curl his effort agonisingly wide of the far post.
Vieira was forced into a substitution at the break as the injured Guaita made way for Jack Butland having complained about a knee problem. Palace continued to look the more threatening side as they piled the pressure on Chelsea’s increasingly makeshift-looking defence.
Ziyech looked like he fancied his chances of breaking the deadlock when Kai Havertz was brought down on the edge of the box by a combination of Schlupp and Nathaniel Clyne. But the Moroccan’s free-kick straight into the wall was as weak an effort as you will ever see.
Romelu Lukaku was supposed to provide Chelsea with that cutting edge and after scoring against Palmeiras, it seemed like he had delivered again 15 minutes from time. Butland could only push the Belgian’s powerful shot into the path of Ziyech and he fired into the empty net, only for the goal to be disallowed because Lukaku had strayed offside in the buildup.
Palace would not be so fortunate the next time, however, with Ziyech slamming home substitute Marcos Alonso’s cross before Zaha wasted a late chance to equalise.
