Chelsea continued their good start under Guus Hiddink and are now unbeaten in four after a 3-0 win away from home against Crystal Palace on Sunday.
After a strong opening from the Eagles, the visitors were able to break the deadlock when Cese Fabregas played in Diego Costa who faked a shot to provide an easy tap-in for Oscar. From that moment on Chelsea started to dominate the game and limited the time that Crystal Palace had on the ball.
After halftime the lead was extended through a thunderbolt from Willian, who took aim from outside the box and gave Wayne Hennessey no chance of saving, putting his strike away in the top corner. The third and final goal came after Willian passed the ball on goal and Hennessey failed to deal with it, allowing a rebound that landed at the feet of Costa who needed no further invitation.
Crystal Palace were without some key players in Yannick Bolasie and Yohan Cabaye, who they will want to get back before their next game against Aston Villa away from home, while Chelsea next face West Bromwich Albion at Stamford Bridge.
Crystal Palace
Wayne Hennessey – 4: Probably could not do too much about the first two goals, however, he should have better with the third in allowing the rebound for Costa.
Joel Ward – 5: Had a decent game against Pedro when he came on and did not really allow the Spaniard too much space to get deliveries into the box.
Scott Dann – 6: Did really well in blocking shots and closing down opportunities on multiple occasions.
Damien Delaney – 4: Had an average game and went to ground when he should have stayed on his feet in the lead-up to Chelsea’s first goal.
Pape Souare – 4: Another player who had a poor game, with some inaccurate passing in the attacking-third when Palace needed it most.
James McArthur – 5: Made some decent tackles that broke up Chelsea’s play, however, he did give possession back cheaply.
Mile Jedinak – 5: Struggled a bit against the faster opposition in Oscar and Willian when they forced him out wide, but was satisfactory in the central position.
Wilfried Zaha – 5: Looked promising in the first 20 minutes but once Chelsea started to get into the game seemed to struggle to find space from then on.
Lee Chung-yong – 5: Like Zaha had a good early stage, yet again once the visitors got ahead had no real chances in the game.
Jason Puncheon – 6: Provided some good balls into the box, mostly in the first 20 minutes.
Fraizer Campbell – 6: Had some chances to get Palace in front early, but missed the target before he was substituted
Substitutes
Joe Ledley – 5: No real impact on the game after replacing Jedinak after the third goal.
Marouane Chamakh – 5: Had a chance late on to find Souare unmarked on the back post, but over hit the cross.
Jonathan Williams – N/A: Was not on long enough to have an impact.
What a strike from Willian! #CFC lead 2-0! #CRYCHE pic.twitter.com/IVzFgBN2EQ
— Outside90 (@Outside90) January 3, 2016
Chelsea
Thibaut Courtois – 6: Had very little to deal with and what he was tested with was usually kicked straight at him with no real power.
Branislav Ivanovic – 5: Some difficulty early against Zaha, but got back into the game and started to close him down more.
Kurt Zouma – 6: Did well in the centre of defence, closing down some chances from Zaha and Campbell.
John Terry – 5: Had a largely unnoticed game and did not really make any mistakes. Kept Campbell and Chamahk quiet.
Cesar Azpilicueta – 6: When Zaha changed sides he closed him down, having learned from their last outing against Palace.
John Obi Mikel – 6: Held the midfield together well and closed down any attacking momentum that Palace tried to create.
Cese Fabregas – 7: Played in Costa for the assist for the first goal and usually had some role in the attacking movement.
Willian – 9: A great game, scoring with a deadly long range shot and playing an assisting role for the third and final goal.
Oscar – 7: Scored the opener that changed the flow of the game, but apart from that was a little quiet.
Eden Hazard – 5: Was injured early in the game and needed to be substituted in the 16th minute.
Diego Costa – 8: Was a nuisance over the 90 minutes, but in a good way. Provided the assist for first goal before finishing the game off with a third.
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Substitutes
Pedro – 6: Had more of an impact as the game wore on by providing more attacking passes and getting into more open spaces.
Nemanja Matic – N/A: Came on with two minutes to go.
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