European champions Chelsea cruised to yet another opening day victory at home to Patrick Vieira’s Crystal Palace. Goals from Marcos Alonso, Christian Pulisic and Trevoh Chalobah meant the Blues have now won eight successive matches against Palace.
The Blues were unable to hand Romelu Lukaku a ‘second’ debut as he has to quarantine as per protocol. Many other first team regulars also sat out as the Blues demonstrated their strength in depth. Kai Havertz, the man who scored the Champions League winning goal, N’Golo Kante, Reece James, Ben Chilwell and Thiago Silva all were left out from the start and yet Thomas Tuchel’s men dominated proceedings. It was a tough introduction to Premier League life as a manager for Patrick Vieira. With tough fixtures coming up, he must sort things out quickly.
Team News
Chelsea
Tuchel made five changes from an enervating night in Belfast. Havertz, Hakim Ziyech, Kante, Hudson-Odoi and Kurt Zouma made way for Pulisic, Mason Mount, Jorginho, Cesar Azpilicueta and Andreas Christensen.
Starting XI: E. Mendy; T. Chalobah, A. Christensen, A. Rudiger; C. Azpilicueta, Jorginho, M. Kovacic, M. Alonso; M. Mount, T. Werner, C. Pulisic
Subs: K. Arrizabalaga, T. Silva, T. Abraham, K. Zouma, C. Hudson-Odoi, B. Chilwell, R. James, K. Havertz, Emerson
Crystal Palace
Patrick Vieira handed debuts to former Chelsea defender Marc Guehi and striker Jean-Philippe Mateta.
Starting XI: V. Guaita; J. Ward, C. Kouyate, M. Guehi, T. Mitchell; J. Ayew, J. Riedewald, J. McArthur, J. Schlupp; W. Zaha, J. Mateta
Subs: J. Butland, J. Andersen, N. Clyne, C. Benteke, M. Kelly, S. Banks, R. Hannam, R. Street, J. Rak-Sakyi
Chelsea put in a dominant performance
After playing for 120 minutes on Wednesday, Chelsea turned up for this one and looked fresh and hungry right from the off. They made the ball do the work as Palace were unable to get out of their own half. But it was not until the 27th minute that the Blues got their breakthrough. A trademark Marcos Alonso free kick opened the scoring in front of a capacity crowd at the Bridge. Before the goal, Pulisic with a header and Mount with a free kick had tested Vicente Guaita in goal.
The Blues didn’t sit back on their lead and doubled it in the 40th minute. After a tidy one-two between Azpilicueta and Mount, the latter sent in a cross which Guaita could only parry it straight into the path of Pulisic. The American made good use of the opportunity to net his fifth goal in five appearances against the Eagles.
Second half
The pattern of the game didn’t change after the break. Alonso tested Guaita with a sweet volley from Jorginho’s lobbed pass. Then Palace finally had their first meaningful attack led by Wilfred Zaha. He was briefly one-on-one with Edouard Mendy but an extra touch allowed Antonio Rudiger to get back and make the block. Then arrived the moment of the afternoon. Academy star Chalobah capped an amazing week by scoring a long-range piledriver. Chalobah was making his Premier League debut and made it one to remember.
The remaining half an hour pretty much drifted into nothingness. Substitute Christian Benteke had the visitors’ first effort on target. At the other end, substitute Reece James looked menacing down the right. Chelsea saw off the remainder and the capacity crowd, returning after 17 long months, had their moneys worth. Full time was greeted with cheers from the returning fans.
Up next
Chelsea have another London derby against fierce rivals Arsenal on Sunday.
Crystal Palace too have another London derby. They are at home to new boys Brentford.