February 19, (THEWILL) – In a tense match against Crystal Palace on Saturday, Hakim Ziyech’s last-minute volley grabbed three points for Chelsea.
Croydon is a long way from Abu Dhabi, and the newly crowned world champions appeared to be suffering from some shock following their heroics at the Club World Cup, while trying to break down their modest hosts in a wet and frantic Selhurst Park first half football.
Seven minutes in, Palace came close to opening the scoring, but Michael Olise scuffed a shot wide of the post. When Hakim Ziyech’s cross flashed onto Christian Pulisic’s foot in the six-yard box, he got himself in a tangle and skied his shot.
Antonio Rudiger forced a fantastic save from Vicente Guaita as he took aim from 40 yards out and launched a deviating bullet of a strike towards the top corner, which the Spaniard palmed away.
Chelsea’s best chance of the half may have gone to the wrong man. With 20 minutes gone, Malang Sarr slipped N’Golo Kante in on goal, but he could only fire straight at the goalkeeper.
After Christian Pulisic was dispossessed and possibly fouled in midfield, the hosts had their finest chance in first-half stoppage time. With a clever through pass, Olise broke and played Wilfried Zaha in, but the Ivorian could only plant his finish wide from the angle.
Chelsea did not improve after the break, and the game seemed to be trudging along to a 0-0 draw without incident.
With 15 minutes remaining, the Blues finally scored when Ziyech tapped home after a Romelu Lukaku effort was parried by substitute goalie Jack Butland, but the Belgian was caught offside in the build-up by a VAR review.
It looked like it was going to be a terrible afternoon for Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea with more dropped points, but in the final minute, Marcos Alonso’s long ball found Ziyech at the back post, who superbly volleyed in the winner.
In stoppage time, Zaha had a chance to draw level, but he could only drag a left-footed shot over the area and wide.
Chelsea will play Lille in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday at Stamford Bridge. In their next Premier League match, Palace travel to Vicarage Road to face Watford on Wednesday.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
