Match details

CRYSTAL PALACE 0 CHELSEA 1

Premier League, Selhurst Park, 19.02.22, 3pm

Crystal Palace (4-2-3-1): Guaita (Butland h/t); Clyne, Andersen, Guehi, Mitchell; Kouyate, McArthur (c) (Mateta 90+2); J Ayew (Eze 84), Olise, Schlupp; Zaha
Unused subs: Kelly, Adaramola, Milivojevic, Hughes, Benteke, Edouard
Booked: Olise 67
Manager: Patrick Vieira

Chelsea (4-1-4-1): Mendy; Christensen, Thiago Silva, Rudiger, Sarr (Alonso 74); Jorginho (c) (Loftus-Cheek 74); Ziyech, Kante (Kovacic 74), Pulisic, Havertz; Lukaku
Unused subs: Arrizabalaga, Chalobah, Kenedy, Saul, Vale, Werner
Booked: Sarr 62, Havertz 90+1, Pulisic 90+3
Scorer: Ziyech 89
Head coach: Thomas Tuchel

Referee: David Coote
Attendance: 25,109

Match summary

Chelsea were made to work hard and left it late, but returned to Premier League action with a win by beating Crystal Palace in our first match as world champions.

The Blues were wearing the badge on our shirts earned with last week's FIFA Club World Cup victory, but Abu Dhabi felt a long way away as we kicked off in the cold, wind and rain of Selhurst Park for this game, and for a long time it looked like we would be unable to overcome our opponents or the conditions to get the three points.

Early chances went begging for both teams, as Christian Pulisic couldn't control his volley on the stretch from Hakim Ziyech's teasing cross and N'Golo Kante fired straight at the keeper after being found brilliantly by Malang Sarr, while Wilfried Zaha was the culprit on two occasions for the home team.

It was already starting to look like it wouldn't be Chelsea's day when Hakim Ziyech stuck in the rebound from Romelu Lukaku's saved shot, only to have the goal ruled out by VAR for offside, but Ziyech hadn't given up and popped up at the back post in the 89th minute to volley in Marcos Alonso's deep cross and give us the win.