Chelsea 3-1 Palace

Apologies again for the lack of a report. I discussed the points I would have written about on the Back of the Nest podcast. The links below will take you to the relevant sections of the podcast. 

An Andros Townsend equaliser early in the second half gave Crystal Palace hope of an unexpected point at Stamford Bridge, but poor defending from a set piece cost the Eagles yet again.

Alvaro Morata gave Chelsea the lead in the first half after the visitors failed to clear a cross. Townsend’s leveller saw the host look to the bench and Eden Hazard’s impact was immediate. His free kick evaded the first man, bounced and found its way to Morata at the back post who mad no mistakes with the finish.

Five minutes later, further poor Palace defending allowed an easy tap-in for Pedro and the chance of another positive result at the Bridge.

Max Meyer

The German was awarded his second Premier League start of the season. You can hear my thoughts on his performance, and the reaction to it by Palace fans, on the Back of the Nest Podcast here.

Set Piece Woe

Palace are yet to score from a set piece this season and are defending them like schoolboys. Listen to my thoughts here.

Man of the Match: Wilfried Zaha

Wilf had a ridiculously tough game on Sunday. He was often isolated up front on his own and surrounded by three to four Chelsea players most of the time. Despite this, only Willian had more key passes (5) than Wilf (3) in the game. No one had more successful dribbles than his six and only Alonso (5) completed more tackles than Wilf (4).

It was an all-action display where he had to battle for everything and it was unsurprising that he cut a frustrated figure at the end of the game as, unsurprisingly against a team like Chelsea, he can't do everything on his own. 

Up Next: Spurs (H)

An injury-ravaged Spurs visits Selhurst Park on Saturday. Listen to the entire Back of the Nest Preview Podcast here. We are joined by Hotspur Memories to give the lowdown on Spurs, we talk Meyer, Sorloth, set pieces, transfer rumours and more.

Come on you Palace!