Chelsea are temporarily back in a top 4 spot after seeing off Crystal Palace in a 3-1 victory.

Liverpool’s loss yesterday meant that a win for Chelsea will help them close the gap between themselves and the defending Premier League champions and that was probably Liam Rosenior’s main motivation coming into the game.

Stating out strongly and looking to shake off the recent upsets at the club, Palace had the best chance of the opening exchanges after Badiashile’s error gave Mateta an easy sight at goal.

However, Mateta was unable to capitalize as he slammed the ball at Sanchez who was out quickly to save his defenders blushes.

Chelsea looked more comfortable against Palace than they did against Brentford but they didn’t have anything to show dor it in the opening minutes.

But the story changed in the 34th minute as Estevao latched onto a loss pass by Canvot, beat his marker for strength and pace before lashing the ball past Henderson to give Chelsea the lead just before halftime.

5 miss after the restart, Chelsea made it 2-0, with a well-worked goal. Playing out from the back, the defence found Joao Pedro who flicked to Estevao, who returned the pass once again to his Brazilian compatriot who beat his man at the near post before firing through the legs of Henderson.

The match went from bad to worse for Oliver Glasner and Crystal Palace as Chelsea were awarded a penalty for a accidental handball by Canvot. Enzo Fernandez stepped up and calmly dispatched it to make it 3-0.

Matters ran out of hands as Wharton was shown a second yellow for a foul on Caicedo. With Chelsea in full control, the game looked done and dusted. But Palace found a consolation late into the game and kept enough pressure on their London rivals for the dying moments of the game.

Their pressure, however, wasn’t enough to alter the results. Chelsea are temporarily depending on the results between Arsenal and Manchester United while Palace on the other hand are falling freely down the table.