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Chelsea maintained their unbeaten start to the season with a hard-fought 3-1 win over Crystal Palace at the Stamford Bridge on Sunday. Two goals from Alvaro Morata and another from Pedro were enough to hand the Blues a third win in their last four Premier League games.
Maurizio Sarri’s men went into the game knowing very well that anything short of victory would have serious consequences for their title ambitions. Having seen Arsenal and Liverpool play out a draw, as well as Manchester City wallop Southampton 6-1 in the earlier fixture, Chelsea had no choice but to keep up the pace.
And it took just 32 minutes for the Blues to open the scoring as Morata took advantage of a defensive mix up from the Crystal Palace defence to slot home. The Spanish striker has been on a hot streak in recent weeks and this was his third goal in his last four games.
Chelsea continued to dominate but could not double their lead before the break. Following the half-time break, Crystal Palace began to grow in confidence with Wilfried Zaha giving the Chelsea backline a run for their money.
Although the former Manchester United winger was the visitors’ liveliest player, it was Andros Townsend who pulled them level with a well-driven right-footed shot from close range. That equaliser came against the run of play, forcing the Blues to introduce Eden Hazard and Mateo Kovacic to inject a bit more pace into their play.
Just a minute after stepping on the pitch, Hazard turned provider as he set up Morata to score his second of the day. Pedro then put the result beyond doubt with Chelsea’s third in the 70th minute.
The 3-1 win means Chelsea have now moved to second-place on the Premier League table – above Liverpool on goal difference.
Meanwhile, football fans around the world have been reacting on Twitter. Here are some of the best tweets:
