Chelsea’s unbeaten run to the Premier League season stretched to 11 games on Sunday as Alvaro Morata’s goals helped the Blues overcome the pace of Crystal Palace.
Having seen Liverpool surrender a lead against Arsenal on Saturday, Maurizio Sarri’s men were all too aware that victory would see them move into second place, but nonetheless, they started sluggishly with Crystal Palace’s narrow formation forcing Chelsea to play out wide and limit the impact of a resurgent Ross Barkley.
A breakthrough did eventually come, however, as Morata touched down a Pedro cut-back before firing past Wayne Hennessey from inside the area.
Palace had at times in the first-half shown how their incisive passing could hurt Chelsea, and a clever through-ball from James McCarthur in the 53rd minute released Andros Townsend, who drew the Eagles level with a clinical right-footed finish into the bottom corner.
Sarri sensed that little was being offered in the way of direct service to the 18-yard box, and in response brought on Eden Hazard and Mateo Kovacic, with the former helping to restore Chelsea’s lead within just a minute of coming off the bench.
The Belgian winger floated a set piece into a sea of blue shirts and with the help of a lucky bounce, the ball broke to Morata, who finished confidently and grabbed both his and Chelsea’s second goals of the game.
A battling performance was sewn up just five minutes later when Pedro swept home Marcos Alonso’s low cross to score his first Premier League goal since the start of September.
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