Free match highlights: Ben Chilwell man of the match on his Premier League debut for Chelsea; goals from Chilwell, Kurt Zouma and Jorginho (two penalties) put Blues back on track; Palace register just 29 per cent possession
Saturday 3 October 2020 19:32, UK
Chelsea turned it on in the second half to beat Crystal Palace 4-0 at Stamford Bridge, with Ben Chilwell scoring and assisting on his Premier League debut for the Blues.
Chelsea struggled to break down Palace's low block in the first half, despite having all of the ball, but got their breakthrough just after the break as Chilwell slammed home from eight yards as the visitors failed to clear (50).
Chilwell was involved in the second as his cross from the left was brilliantly headed home by Kurt Zouma (66), before Jorginho slotted two penalties (78 and 82) after Tammy Abraham was brought down by Tyrick Mitchell and Mamadou Sakho had tripped Kai Havertz.
The result means Chelsea bounced following disappointing results against Liverpool, West Brom and Tottenham, while Palace now have two wins and two defeats from their first four.
Frank Lampard selected his 21st different defensive line-up in 42 Premier League games as Ben Chilwell made his league debut for Chelsea, but they were untested in the first half as the hosts had all the ball but no bite.
Timo Werner was forced to drop deep and even swap wings with Callum Hudson-Odoi as Palace sat deep and defended well, and on one rare occasion Chelsea did break through Kai Havertz, team-mate Werner couldn't capitalise as his first-time effort was comfortably saved by Vicente Guaita.
Chelsea improved in the second half, however, and got the crucial breakthrough through Chilwell on his Premier League debut; after Sakho failed to clear, the ball fortuitously fell to Chilwell on the half volley on the left of the box, and he slammed the ball past Guaita left-footed.
Zouma glanced a good headed chance from a Chilwell corner wide shortly after, but then got his goal from another wide delivery from the same source, rising above Sakho and looping a superb header into the top right corner from Chilwell's left-wing cross from deep.
Chilwell is just the third player to both score and assist a goal on their Premier League debut for Chelsea, after Deco in August 2008 and Alvaro Morata in August 2017.
Abraham powered a header inches wide from Hudson-Odoi's delivery, and the striker was involved again in the third as a fine turn in the box forced Mitchell to trip him for a spot-kick. Jorginho stepped up, rolling the ball bottom right as Guaita went left.
There was another penalty four minutes later as Sakho left a leg on Havertz just inside the box, and despite Abraham wanting to take the resulting spot-kick, captain Cesar Azpilcueta took the ball off the striker and handed it to Jorginho. The decision proved correct, as Jorginho again rolled home, his 10th penalty scored from 11 taken.
Regarding Abraham wanting to take the penalty, Lampard told BT Sport after the game: "It's been dealt with. No problems. Just dealt with. I want leaders - and a little bit of conflict. It's good that Tammy was enthusiastic but you don't jump ahead of the list."
It was a satisfying victory in the end for Lampard after a laboured opening, and good proof that £50m was well spend on left-back Chilwell, while N'Golo Kante also impressed immensely, protecting what had been a leaky Chelsea defence.
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Chelsea boss Frank Lampard on Callum Hudson-Odoi: "Callum is absolutely part of my plans here. I'm very pleased with him. By Monday we will know a definitive answer. If they've declared their interest then that's one thing, but everything that happens by Monday will be either things that are firstly good for us as a club.
"Callum's our player, and also what Callum wants will come into consideration, but it has to be right for everybody. At the minute I want Callum part of my squad."
Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson: "All defeats are difficult to take. When you get beaten this heavily it's harder. In the first half I thought we defended well, but we gifted goals via individual defensive errors.
"It's very hard to overcome that. Three of four were down to errors you hope your defenders aren't going to make. We didn't [attack enough]. I didn't think our attacking play was very good. We didn't have enough composure on the ball.
"We must give Chelsea credit, of course, they made it difficult to get that passing and movement that we wanted."
Chelsea now host Southampton in the Premier League after the international break on October 17 at 3pm.
Crystal Palace host rivals Brighton on October 18, live on Sky Sports Premier League at 2pm.
