Conor Gallagher struck twice to sentence his former membership Crystal Palace to a dangerous 3-1 defeat on Monday and maintain Chelsea within the hunt for European soccer subsequent season.
The injury-ravaged Eagles had been on target for an enormous win of their battle to stay within the Premier League when Jefferson Lerma’s long-range strike opened the scoring.
But Palace have gained simply thrice in 19 video games and had been undone late on after Gallagher equalised inside two minutes of the second half.
Gallagher fired dwelling his second of the night time and Enzo Fernandez added the third in stoppage time to carry Chelsea as much as tenth and inside two factors of seventh.
The defeat leaves Palace nonetheless simply 5 factors above the relegation zone in fifteenth.
“It was extremely cruel but the game is about goals and unfortunately we made mistakes which led to goals,” mentioned beneath hearth Palace boss Roy Hodgson.
The dwelling facet had been decimated by key accidents with all three of their star gamers Eberechi Eze, Michael Olise and Marc Guehi dominated out.
Hodgson and the membership’s board are beneath assault from the followers and banners held up earlier than kick-off took goal at a “weak club culture” and “weak transfer policy.”
But Palace greater than held their very own for the primary 45 minutes thanks to a different lacklustre Chelsea efficiency away from dwelling.
“We started really flat, we didn’t show enough intensity. It was a really tough first 45 minutes,” mentioned Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino.
“Second half we started really well, scored the 1-1 and it allowed us to manage the game.”
Pochettino had hailed his facet’s 3-1 FA Cup win at Aston Villa final week as his facet’s “best performance of the season.”
However, it was again to the drafting board for the Argentine within the first half at Selhurst Park as Chelsea had been pedestrian in possession and had been punished.
Noni Madueke was simply bullied out of possession on the sting of his personal field and the ball fell to Lerma to take goal and hearth into the highest nook past Djordje Petrovic.
Silva setback
It took till first-half stoppage time for Chelsea to even register a shot as Gallagher dragged his effort throughout purpose.
But that was a warning Palace didn’t heed.
The begin to the second half was delayed whereas referee Michael Oliver sought repairs to his communication gadget along with his assistants and VAR.
And Palace had been caught chilly on the restart as Gallagher, who loved a profitable mortgage spell at Palace within the 2021/22 season, smashed dwelling Malo Gusto’s cross.
Chelsea suffered a setback when Thiago Silva was compelled off with a groin harm that’s more likely to maintain him out of the League Cup closing towards Liverpool later this month.
But they may no less than head into a frightening journey to Manchester City on Saturday with some renewed confidence due to a late present that snatched all three factors.
Palace stored Cole Palmer quiet for many of the night time, however he nonetheless proved decisive with two assists in stoppage time.
The former City playmaker picked out Gallagher on the fringe of the field to fireside dwelling his third purpose in two video games having not scored all season earlier than then.
Palmer then freed Fernandez as Chelsea galloped from one finish of the sector to the opposite on the counter-attack and he sat down Daniel Munoz earlier than stroking into the highest nook.
Source web site: www.hindustantimes.com
