Crystal Palace 0-1

Independent:

Crystal Palace 1 Chelsea 0

John Terry administers the fatal cut to Chelsea’s self-inflicted wounds
Mourinho sees his title hopes fade away with a lacklustre and spiritless display against a Palace side that finally rediscovers their vim

Steve Tongue

As the final whistle blew in south London, Gary Cahill slumped to the floor and his Chelsea team-mates trudged from the pitch knowing they had almost certainly lost any chance of becoming Premier League champions this season after another damaging away defeat.
 
Jose Mourinho went to Cahill, picking him up physically and mentally, but now he must do it to the rest of his squad, some of whom do not deserve the same commiserations as the centre-half, before the Champions’ League quarter-final first leg away to Paris St-Germain on Wednesday. Too many of them seemed to feel this would be a stroll in the sunshine to three more points, hopelessly underestimating the spirit that Tony Pulis has installed into his Crystal Palace side after they lost nine of their first 10 League games.
After losing at Aston Villa a fortnight ago, Chelsea recovered to knock out Galatasaray a few days later, but PSG are a cut above that. Mourinho is left to hope that his big game players can rise to the occasion in a manner they were never close to doing here. Of course there were chances, both before and after the unlucky John Terry headed a cross into his own net early in the second half. Even so, two excellent saves from Julian Speroni were all it took to repel them and effectively end the title challenge.
The surprise tactically, and one possible criticism of Mourinho, was that even with David Luiz and Nemanja Matic to mind the shop, Frank Lampard sat so deep in a conventional 4-3-3 formation. What little support there was for Fernando Torres, who was out-of-sorts again, therefore came from Eden Hazard and André Schürrle cutting inside, which in turn meant a lack of width. Not surprisingly Mourinho changed things at half-time, sending on Oscar for Luiz but the Brazilian made as little difference as later substitutes Mohamed Salah and Demba Ba.
A series of different formations in the second half, all equally futile, illustrated Chelsea’s impotence, and Mourinho summed up their frustration near the end when he rebuked a ball boy; claiming later he did not want the youngster to be attacked by one of his players for hanging on to the ball.
In contrast, Palace, after two successive home defeats, have rediscovered all the vim from the early days of Pulis’s reign before Christmas, when a series of home wins had them believing again. No prima donnas here, although their worst mistake after a League victory over Chelsea for the first time since August 1990 (so long ago that Ian Wright scored the winner) would be to slip into the sort of complacency their opponents displayed yesterday.
“To beat Chelsea will give everyone a boost to push on for the last seven games,” Pulis said. “The Premier League is the most competitive league in the world and that’s why it’s a great league. The top teams always have to play well or they can come unstuck.”
After the goal, Palace were able to counter-attack through Cameron Jerome, who hit a post, and Jason Puncheon, a figure of fun when he took the worst penalty of the season at Tottenham, who was outstanding down the right in combination with his full-back Adrian Mariappa.
Like so many Palace managers down the years, Pulis has been talking about the club’s “enormous potential”. Like most of them, however, he has never been in situ long enough to bring it to fruition. To avoid a fifth relegation from the Premier League immediately after going up, they need to start picking up some points on their travels – preferably starting at Cardiff next weekend – as Manchester City and Liverpool are the last visitors to Selhurst. Surely neither can be as anaemic as Chelsea were.
Presumably relieved at how little the visitors had to offer, Palace grew in self-belief. Before half-time they had two strong appeals for penalties as Jerome and Yannick Bolasie went down, as well as a good chance for the latter, who could get no power onto Puncheon’s cross.
Seven minutes into the second half, the left-back Joel Ward crossed and Terry, stretching to beat Joe Ledley to the header, directed it past Petr Cech. With Selhurst rocking and rolling, Chelsea finally forced Speroni into action, the goalkeeper responding with two excellent saves low to his left from Hazard.
Yet the final five opportunities of the match were made by the home side, mainly through breaking out at a pace their opponents did not possess. Jerome, sent through by Mile Jedinak, hit the near post; Ledley hooked wide and pulled another shot across goal; Cech saved from Puncheon and then substitute Stuart O’Keefe. In added time Speroni clutched Branislav Ivanovic’s cross to a Cup-winning roar and Palace had three invaluable and thoroughly deserved points.

Line-ups:

Crystal Palace (4-4-1-1): Speroni; Ward, Dann, Delaney, Ward; Puncheon (Parr, 89), Dikgacoi,Jedinak, Bolasie (O’Keefe, 69);  Ledley; Jerome (Murray, 87).

Chelsea (4-3-3): Cech; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta; Luiz (Oscar, 46), Matic, Lampard (Salah, 56); Schurrle (Ba, 69), Torres, Hazard.

Referee: Lee Mason
Man of the match:  Jason Puncheon (Crystal Palace).
Match rating: 7/10

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Observer:

John Terry's own goal gifts Crystal Palace victory as Chelsea are stunned

Dominic Fifield at Selhurst Park

Chelsea's title challenge has run aground south of the river. This derby was supposed to be awkward rather than treacherous but, eclipsed by Crystal Palace's sheer refusal to wilt, the side who had led going into the weekend ended up feeling forlorn. José Mourinho strode from the pitch consoling a distraught Gary Cahill, one of the few visiting players to deserve better, and straight into the home dressing room to congratulate the victors.
This was a result to confound logic even in a gloriously unpredictable top flight. Palace had secured a solitary point from 14 games against the Premier League's top nine before this match, their winless streak stretching back to the start of February with goals having long since dried up. They had not managed one from open play since that last success though, befitting a contest that deviated from the prescribed script, Chelsea scored one for them here. John Terry's own goal early in the second half had Mourinho writing off his team's chances of regaining the title. He scribbled one word down on a piece of paper, preferring not to damn his own out loud, when asked what his team needs if they are to improve. "Balls," read the note. That summed it up.
This was as weak from Chelsea as it was powerful from Palace. The hosts had resisted through the early stages, emulating their rugged first-half displays against Manchester United and Arsenal here this season, and even mustered a flurry of half-chances just before the interval to offer a reminder they might glean greater reward thereafter. Seven minutes after the restart and their endeavours were answered.
The excellent Joel Ward, fed by Yannick Bolasie's pass, summoned a fine cross towards Joe Ledley at the near post only for the Chelsea captain to leap in aerial challenge and flick the ball beyond a stranded Petr Cech. Selhurst Park erupted, the din merely fuelling the home side's conviction. They would go on to miss clearer chances on the counter-attack, striking the post through Cameron Jerome, as their opponents became desperate.
It was the reality that few had seen this coming that took the breath away. Palace have been industrious since Tony Pulis's arrival but had remained ineffective, even blunt, against the division's better opposition. Indeed, theirs had started to feel like a steady decline towards the cut-off. Yet here they countered with verve and threat, and defended with such energy.
"Our results had dropped off, even if the performances had been OK, but to beat Chelsea will give everyone a boost to push on for the last seven games," said Pulis. "The Premier League is the most competitive in the world. The top teams have to play well or they can come unstuck."
Chelsea endured just that, the repercussions of failure critical. Mourinho bemoaned some of his key performers having "disappeared" in certain matches, when opponents have pressed and harried as Palace did so effectively. The same had happened, he suggested, in all their league defeats this term bar the loss at Aston Villa in their previous away game that he will always insist was born of a freakishly poor performance from the referee.
Certainly, key players were anonymous. Fernando Torres's sole contribution of note was to lift a lob over a gaping net as full-time approached, the striker having been carelessly gifted possession by Stuart O'Keefe. Furious occasions such as this tend to pass the Spaniard by and, other than that chance, he never represented a threat in the area.
Yet he was not alone in fluffing his lines. André Schürrle was thwarted at his clearest sight of goal by Ward's lunge, the ball dribbling wide, but none of the visitors' forwards had the bite to make their mark. Even Eden Hazard was peripheral for long periods, briefly rousing himself to curl a wicked shot through a clutch of bodies just after Terry's error that Julian Speroni did well to palm away. The Argentinian has been consistently impressive as one of the division's busier goalkeepers and he managed to better that save with another from the Belgian before the end, Oscar's choked shot having landed at Hazard's feet. The din that greeted the save almost matched the one that heralded the home side's lead.
There were anxious moments before the end, Chelsea flinging bodies forward in search of parity only to be caught too often on the break with Palace, somehow, contriving to miss a succession of chances to settle the match.
Mourinho's words of advice with a ballboy he considered to have been time-wasting added to the drama, though the final whistle, after four minutes of stoppage time, brought relief. Not since Ian Wright's lob in the autumn of 1990 had Palace won against these opponents in the league.
"For their spirit, their commitment, their desire, they deserved it," Mourinho said. "This is the kind of defeat where we can only blame ourselves."

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Telegraph:

Crystal Palace 1 Chelsea 0:

By Ian Winrow, Selhurst Park

Jose Mourinho insisted this defeat marked the end of Chelsea’s hopes of lifting Premier League trophy and while the manager could be accused of being unduly pessimistic given the narrow margins at the head of the table, his team’s performance against a side fighting relegation offered little to counter the manager’s stance.
A week after they had produced a exhilarating display to crush Arsenal, Chelsea struggled to overcome a side that had mustered just one goal, a penalty and two points from their last five games.
Unconvincing in the first half, Mourinho’s side were unable to raise their levels after John Terry diverted Joel Ward’s cross past Petr Cech in the 52nd minute. The lack of forward power that has been largely disguised throughout the campaign became starkly apparent as Palace stood firm in the face of growing pressure and deserved the victory that moved them five points clear of the bottom three.
Asked to find the resolve to fight back and consolidate their standing at the head of the table, too many of Mourinho’s players were found wanting. A game they had to win turned into a frustrating defeat and, unlike at Aston Villa two weeks previously, Mourinho was unable to divert attention towards the performance of the referee.
In fact, if any team had grounds for complaint, it was Palace who saw two strong first half penalty appeals turned down. There was little doubt the home side deserved their rewards for refusing to be overwhelmed and producing a performance of impressive determination.
The outcome was that instead of increasing the pressure on Manchester City and Liverpool, a second successive away defeat – both to teams in the lower half of the table – handed the initiative to Chelsea’s main rivals in the title race.
There may well be more twists and turns in the final weeks of the season and the proximity of the top teams to each other means no contender can be ruled out yet, but in the tightest contest for several years, one slip was always likely to prove costly and, in Mourinho’s view, two could prove fatal.
A week previously, Chelsea had flown out of the blocks against Arsenal, putting the game beyond Arsène Wenger’s side with an explosive start that brought three goals in the opening 17 minutes. Seven days later and it was a very different story.
Mourinho tinkered with his line-up, opting to go with a three-man midfield of David Luiz, Frank Lampard and Nemanja Matic but the change appeared to upset his side’s fluency, allowing Palace to settle comfortably into the game on warm, sunny afternoon in south London.
The service to forward three Eden Hazard, Fernando Torres and André Schürrle was poor.
When the visitors did manage to create their first real opening of the half in the 18th minute, when Cesar Azpilicueta’s overlap took him behind the home defence and the byline, Schürrle was unable to get a full contact on the Spaniard’s low cross at the far post.
The incident summed up the lack of conviction in Chelsea’s play and while they would improve later in the game, they never found top gear.
It was clear Palace would present a more formidable obstacle than Arsenal had last week and as they grew in confidence, Pulis’s side began to assert themselves.
The pace of Yannick Bolasie and Jason Puncheon down the flanks stretched the visitors and the pair should have produced the opening goal when they combined in 25th minute.
Puncheon was played in behind Azpilicueta by Adrian Mariappa and picked out Bolasie with a cross to the far post. A better first touch would have allowed the winger to place the ball inside Petr Cech’s right-hand post but instead he fired wastefully into the side netting, to the clear frustration of the animated Pulis.
Chelsea were rattled but it could have been worse for Mourinho’s side had referee Lee Mason not dismissed strong penalty appeals after Gary Cahill upended first Cameron Jerome and then, minutes later, Yannick Bolasie.
Mourinho reacted to his side’s frustrating first half display by introducing Oscar for David Luiz but it was Palace who took the initiative.
Within seven minutes of the restart Jerome sent a glancing header wide when he should have done better, but this was soon followed by Terry, under pressure from Joe Ledley, heading into his own goal from Joel Ward’s left-wing cross.
Eden Hazard twice tested the excellent Julián Speroni with powerful shots and Terry headed over from a good position at a corner later in the half, but for all Chelsea’s pressure during the final minutes, they rarely looked capable of breaking down a resolute defence built around the impressive central defensive pairing of Damien Delaney and Scott Dann, and protected by the midfield pair of Mile Jedinak and Kagisho Dikgacoi.
In fact, had Jerome, impressive in the central striker role, managed to steer a left foot shot an inch or two to the left, his 73rd minute shot would have rebounded off the post and into Cech’s goal rather than deflecting away to safety.
Palace’s problems in front of goal have underpinned their difficulties this season, but on this occasion they had the safety net of the opening goal and survived four minutes of injury time to claim a win that carried significance at both ends of the table.

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Mail:

Crystal Palace 1-0 Chelsea: Terry own goal dents Blues title hopes as Eagles earn shock victory

By Martha Kelner

John Terry curled tightly into a ball inside the penalty area, put his hands to his ears like a child willing the world away after scoring an own goal that may prove fatal to Chelsea’s hopes of winning the Premier League title.
The haunted look on the face of Stamford Bridge’s most fiercely loyal servant after he headed past his own keeper on 52 minutes suggested he realised that this defeat may have left his beloved Chelsea with too much to do to win the league.
Jose Mourinho’s side remain top of the table and equal on points with Manchester City but Manuel Pellegrini's side have two games in hand while Liverpool are one point behind and have one game in hand over Chelsea. Mourinho, who has been playing down his side’s title chances all season, suggested it was too big a challenge.
As he trudged off the pitch at Selhurst Park, patting a dejected Gary Cahill on the back, Mourinho offered a sporting gesture of applause to the Crystal Palace fans. He then went into Tony Pulis’s dressing room to congratulate the Palace players for a display of guts, bravery and togetherness. Certain qualities, he later suggested, were absent in some of his own players.
The Portuguese and most others expected Chelsea to return with three points from Saturday’s game. They have played three other London derbies this month and won them all, scoring 13 goals and conceding just one.
They came to Selhurst Park with huge momentum, on the back of a 6-0 thrashing of Arsenal, Mourinho’s biggest victory at Chelsea. Everything signalled that they would at least run Manchester City or Liverpool close for the title.
But some players, Mourinho suggested without mentioning names, did not fancy an afternoon in unglamorous, deepest South London.
Mourinho’s substitutions – usually so inspired failed to have the desired effect. David Luiz went off after a dire opening half, perhaps still feeling the effects of a wild Yannick Bolasie challenge early in the game.
Fernando Torres could have softened the blow when handed a golden opportunity to grab an equaliser in stoppage time. Stuart O’Keefe, perhaps overawed by the prospect of a momentous victory, played a horrendously judged back-pass to ‘keeper Julian Speroni. But Torres – who had little impact all game – lobbed his attempt over the crossbar. Asked to assess the performance of the £50m Spaniard, Mourinho replied: ‘I like to analyse individual performances when I have something good to say.’
Before the game, the stage had been set for referee Lee Mason to take centre stage. Jose Mourinho spent the week telling anyone who would listen his theory that referee Chris Foy’s performance in Chelsea’s defeat to Aston Villa two weeks ago could prove fatal to his side’s title chances.
Meanwhile, Tony Pulis used his programme notes to broadcast his belief that Palace had been unfairly treated by officials in their last two fixtures and professed his hope that the game would not hinge on a refereeing decision. .
It almost did after Gary Cahill twice brought down a man inside the box within three minutes in the first half.
First, he uprooted Cameron Jerome then he hacked down Yannick Bolasie from behind. Twice, referee Lee Mason waved away penalty appeals. The Palace fans felt hard done by. Tony Pulis leapt about and waved his arms in the air, a man possessed by a sense of injustice, while Mourinho jotted an observation in his notepad. 
Palace have scored just once in their last five league games and so John Terry leaped in to get them back to scoring ways. He dove in front of a Joel Ward cross bound for the head of Joe Ledley and sent the ball flying past a folorn Petr Cech. The look of horror on the face of the recoiling Mourinho was visible from high in the stands.
Mourinho adjusted his formation in the hunt for an equaliser.
He brought off Frank Lampard for Mohamed Salah, who was innefective. Ditto Demba Ba, who came on for Andre Schurrle in the 70th minute.
But this was not just a story of Chelsea mistakes and shortcomings. Mile Jedinak, Jason Puncheon and keeper Julian Speroni were superb.
As Crystal Palace technical coach David Kemp said: ‘You could pick seven, eight or nine star players from our team.
'This was big for the club but big for players too.
'We now have nine wins this season which is very credible for a promoted team.’
This first victory over Chelsea in the league for 23 years lifts them fifth from bottom, five points clear of the drop. 

Crystal Palace (4231): Speroni 7.5; Mariappa 7, Dann 7, Delaney 7, Ward 7; Dikgacoi 7, Jedinak 8; Puncheon 7.5 (Parr 90), Ledley 7, Bolasie 6 (O’Keefe, 70 6); Jerome 7.5 (Murray 88).
Subs not used: Hennessey, McCarthy, Ince, Bannan.
Bookings: Bolasie, Puncheon, Dann, Mariappa.
Manager: Tony Pulis 8.

Chelsea (433): Cech 7; Ivanovic 6.5, Cahill 6, Terry 6, Azpilicueta 6; Luiz 5 (Oscar HT, 6), Matic 5, Lampard 5.5 (Salah 57, 6); Schurrle 6 (Ba 70, 5), Torres 5, Hazard 6.
Subs not used: Hilario, Kalas, Mikel, Willian.
Bookings: Terry.
Manager: Jose Mourinho 6.
MOM: Mile Jedinak

Referee: Lee Mason 6
Player ratings by Matt Barlow at Selhurst Park

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