Palace edged out in a derby thriller against Chelsea

Palace 2-3 Chelsea

Crystal Palace suffered their fourth straight defeat with a 3-2 loss at home to Chelsea.

Despite a fantastic strike from Wilfried Zaha and rare goal from Christian Benteke, Palace lost out at Selhurst Park.

They were unlucky to go behind after just six minutes when Gary Cahill pulled up with a hamstring injury which allowed Willian to tee up Olivier Giroud for an easy finish.

Christian Pulisic’s powerful effort from close range put Chelsea further ahead on 27 minutes and it looked like they were going to run riot.

However, Zaha’s amazing 30-yard rocket shot in the 34th minute got Palace back into the game.

Chelsea substitute Tammy Abraham made it 3-1 on 71 minutes with a neat finish from fellow sub Ruben Loftus-Cheek.

Palace refused to give in and scored again seconds later when Benteke tapped home Patrick van Aanholt’s cross.

The Eagles almost snatched an injury-time equaliser but Scott Dann’s header smacked against the upright and Chelsea would have been relieved the match ended soon after.

Palace: Guaita, Van Aanholt, Cahill (Sakho 8), Dann, Ward, McArthur (McCarthy 80), Milivojevic (Meyer 89), Kouyate, Zaha, Ayew (Townsend 80), Benteke.

Not used: Hennessey, Woods, Mitchell, Riedewald, Pierrick.

Chelsea: Arrizabalaga, Azpilicueta, Zouma, Christensen, James, Gilmour (Jorginho 80) Mount, Barkley (Loftus-Cheek 65), Pulisic, Giroud (Abraham 65), Willian.

Not used: Caballero, Rudiger, Alonso, Pedro, Hudson-Odoi, Batshuayi.