Abraham and Pulisic send Chelsea to second place on EPL table after seeing of Crystal Palace 2-0 in early kickoff
Chelsea beat stubborn Crystal Palace to send their winning run in the Premier League to six games, after welcoming Roy Hodgson’s side to Stamford Bridge in Saturday launch time kickoff.
With Jorginho serving one game ban, Frank Lampard opted for the pair of returning N’Golo Kante and Mateo Kovacic in midfield zone, to set the tempo for his side.
It was a difficult first half for Chelsea as Crystal were able to curtail the attacking force of Lampard’s side, but Christian Pulisic could have at least open the score for Chelsea before the end of the first half as his early chances were saved by Vicente Guaita.
Chelsea took the lead just seven minutes into the second half after Abraham received a flick-on from the skipper on the day Willian, before the young English placed the ball at the far right low corner of the posts.
As minutes go by, Chelsea continued to grow in confidence when going forward but Palace defense were resilient enough to prevent any cheap goal.
However, Christian Pulisic sealed Chelsea’s lead after heading home Bashuayi’s rebound on the 79’ minute. The American started it all cutting from the left flank before picking out Bashauyi down the left side inside Palace box, the Belgian shot at goal, but there was a deflection which saw the ball fell onto the head of Pulisic. The former Dortmund winger wasted no to time to head the ball beyond Guaita to put Chelsea 2-0 up.
Pulisic’s goal today is his fifth goal of the season. Chelsea climb to second position on the log, but would have to wait the outcome of Manchester City, Liverpool and Leicester City games, who welcome Arsenal to the King Power Stadium later today.
