Chelsea 3-1 Crystal Palace: 5 Hits and Flops, Premier League 2018/19

Chelsea outclassed Crystal Palace by 3-1 to extend their unbeaten start to the season and keep pace with Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal. They now have eight wins and three draws from their 11 matches.As envisioned by almost everybody that follows and celebrates the Premier League, the Blues comfortably recycled possession knocked it around and kept it ticking. They were forced to go wide as Hodgson's men clogged the midfield and the central areas of the pitch. As a result, Azpilicueta and Alonso were heavily involved.It was a lacklustre first-half that had anything but the spark of a London derby. The hosts failed to penetrate through a packed Crystal Palace defence but kept it flowing repeatedly. They ended the first 45 minutes with 77% possession and a total of 422 passes in contrast to the Eagles' 124.A few shots from Morata and Willian were blocked and more often than not, a final ball was lacking from the home side. However, a cross from Pedro met Morata, who scored his third goal in the fourth league match with ease.A couple of attempts from Max Meyer down the left did lift the away supporters' spirits, but there wasn't much to test Cesar Azplicueta and company at the back.The second-half began in similar fashion, with Chelsea hogging all the possession and Palace nowhere near them. However, against the run of play, a miscommunication between the Chelsea centre-backs led to an Andros Townsend goal, which was extremely well taken.Their newfound hope only lasted for 12 minutes though, as an Eden Hazard free-kick found Alvaro Morata, who doubled his tally. Moments later, Alonso whipped a cross in, Pedro made a clever into the six-yard area and put the game to bed with a calm finish.For the rest of the match, Sarri's men churned out chances and played it around whereas their opponents almost ran out of ideas.11 - This is the first time since the 1978-79 season that three top-flight teams have gone unbeaten in their opening 11 games of a league campaign (Man City, Chelsea and Liverpool). Margins. pic.twitter.com/sDZIiHvbxQ— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 4, 2018Here are 5 players who experienced mixed outings at Stamford Bridge. #5 Hit: N'Golo KanteN'Golo Kante engineered quite a few attacksN'Golo Kante wasn't as involved as he would want to be in that advanced role down the right, but nonetheless, he is still quite the natural match-winner he always has been. And today, once again, he proved himself.He won all 50-50 duels, pick pocketed Wilfred Zaha on a few occasions and re-installed possession for his side with neatness and sharpness. The Frenchman chased down opposition wingers and tracked them till they surrendered possession. To say the least, he nullified any chance of a Crystal Palace counter-attack.Going forward, he may not be the most incisive in the final third, but his technique and the way he uses his low center or gravity to skip past players is becoming an asset for Chelsea. He fed in passes for Azpilicueta and Pedro a number of times made a couple of daunting runs down the right to add to his all-round game.His intelligence and ability to read the game seems to be covering up for Jorginho's athletic inabilities and lack of pace.

Chelsea 3-1 Crystal Palace: 5 Hits and Flops, Premier League 2018/19

#4 Flop: Patrick Van Aanholt