Substitute Tammy Abraham’s goal proved decisive as Chelsea made hard work of a 3-2 win over Crystal Palace in a thrilling match at Selhurst Park.
Against his former club, Gary Cahill was out of luck as him pulling up with a hamstring injury, one that prematurely ended his involvement in the match, allowed Willian in to pull the ball back for Olivier Giroud to break the deadlock with just six minutes on the clock.
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The in-form Christian Pulisic then doubled Chelsea’s advantage with a powerful strike in the 27th minute to put Chelsea into a commanding position, before Wilfried Zaha’s first goal of 2020 – one worth the wait from fully 30 yards – got Palace back in it seven minutes later.
Abraham then stepped off the bench to score his first goal since mid-January to seemingly again put Chelsea in a strong position, before Benteke got on the scoresheet at Selhurst Park for the first time in January 2018 less than a minute later to give Palace hope, but it was not enough as Chelsea just saw out the win to, temporarily at least, go third.