Chelsea 2 Crystal Palace 1: Blues secure much-needed win as Noni Madueke fires home late penalty
NONI MADUEKE staged a miraculous recovery from near death to ensure Chelsea at least end a dramatic year at Stamford Bridge on a high note.
The substitute winger was left crumpled in a heap following a standing tackle from Eberechi Eze which secured the penalty that proved decisive.
The 85th minute challenge left the winger on the deck only to find an amazing new lease of life to step up and score from the spot and claim his first Premier League goal on a rare outing in the first team.
This was Chelsea’s final home game of 2023 – they started their annus horribilis at home with a 1-0 win over Palace back in January.
If this is progress then it’s not much but right now Chelsea and their frustrated head coach will take whatever they can get. They climb to tenth in the table.
Victory against a team without a win in eight games now is hardly a cause for mass celebration but it keeps the heat off Pochettino for a while – at least until they visit resurgent Luton on Saturday.
The Argentine coach named Chelsea’s youngest ever Premier League starting XI with an average age of 23 years and 21 days. And at times it showed with some naive football.
Chelsea’s youthful team started like kids rushing downstairs on Christmas morning. There was energy and buzz, excitement in the air.
Pochettino gave a first start and home debut to Christopher Nkunku and that too seemed to add a touch of sparkle to Chelsea’s play in the beginning.
The French forward was a brief bright note from Sunday’s otherwise miserable trip to Wolves on Sunday and he picked up from where he left off.
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Playing just behind centre forward Nicolas Jackson, he was able to forge a link with the midfield and the widemen.
It was one such combination that led to Chelsea taking the lead on 13 minutes.
Malo Gusto started the move on the right side of the pitch, laid the ball off then dashed across to the opposite flank. There he switched passes with Nkunku before squaring for Mudryk to divert the ball in from seven yards.
Just moments earlier, Nkunku and Mudryk also joined forces to set up Ian Maatsen whose shot beat Palace keeper Dean Henderson only for Tyrick Mitchell to scamper back and clear the danger.
It was all Chelsea with zip and purpose up front and Jackson scrapping away – teeing up Nkunku who should have made it 2-0 only to clip the leg of chasing defender Chris Richards as he bore down on goal and scuffed what would have been a certain goal.
But Chelsea’s positivity in attack wasn’t fooling Pochettino even if most of the crowd inside Stamford Bridge were drinking it in.
The manager was raging with his defence for a long time in the lead up to Palace’s equaliser that he clearly saw coming.
At one point Chelsea’s head coach had to plead clemency from fourth official Tim Robinson for straying too far down the touchline to berate left back Levi Colwill for taking his eye off the dangerous Olise lurking out wide.
The warning went unheeded and in first half added time, they paid the price.
Jordan Ayew catapulted a delightful all across the entire width of the turf to find Olise in space at the far post to take the ball on his chest and turn the ball in sharply for the equaliser.
Pochettino turned away in despair and at the half time whistle spat into the ground to show his disgust at the way his naive team had surrendered the lead against such out of form opposition.
Olise is well known to Chelsea for having been one of the few players in world football to turn them down during their mind-boggling transfer spree, opting instead to sign a four year deal and remain at Palace.
His neat finish was everything that Chelsea weren’t and still aren’t.
Things hardly picked up in the second half either and on 57 minutes, frustrated Pochettino was forced to massively up the average age of his team by swapping 20-year-old Colwill for 39-year-old Thiago Silva in defence to get a steady hand on the tiller at the back.
Romeo Lavia was also given his debut after a long recovery from an ankle problem and Madueke’s introduction shows that at least there is a growing list of options on the bench.
Chelsea’s PA system belted out ‘Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now’ at full time. Irony is not dead at least here.