Crystal Palace 2-3 Chelsea: Christian Pulisic and Tammy Abraham score as Blues hold on to Premier League victory at Selhurst Park

Chelsea were ahead only five minutes in as Olivier Giroud turned in Willian’s cross after ex-Blues defender Gary Cahill had gone down with what appeared to be a hamstring injury.

Willian was involved again as Christian Pulisic put Chelsea 2-0 up in the 27th minute but Palace responded with a superb strike from Jordan Ayew.

The hosts were getting the better of the second half before Chelsea substitute Tammy Abraham struck with 19 minutes left, but Palace would not go away as Christian Benteke scored just seconds later – his first goal at Selhurst Park since April 2018.

Scott Dann struck a post in stoppage time but Chelsea hung on for a vital win.

Premier League: Tuesday's results

Click the fixtures below for the report and match clips

• Crystal Palace 2-3 Chelsea
• Watford 2-1 Norwich City
• Arsenal 1-1 Leicester City

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• Chelsea have now won 132 of their 256 London derbies in the Premier League; their 52 percent win rate is the highest for any side in such matches.
• Crystal Palace have lost four consecutive matches for the first time since March 2018 - the fourth game in that run was also against Chelsea.
• Frank Lampard is the first English Chelsea boss to achieve a league double over Crystal Palace since Dave Sexton in 1971-72.
• Chelsea striker Olivier Giroud has scored five goals in his last eight Premier League appearances; his previous five goals in the competition were spread across 49 games.
• Willian has scored or assisted in four consecutive league games for the first time for Chelsea, registering four goals and two assists. Since the restart, only Bruno Fernandes has as many goal involvements in the Premier League (six each).
• Chelsea midfielder Billy Gilmour (62 successful passes) is the first teenager to lead all players for successful passes in each of his first two Premier League starts since Denilson for Arsenal in March 2007.
• Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha's strike came from a distance of just over 30 yards; none of his previous 35 Premier League goals were from more than 19 yards out.
• Christian Benteke scored his first Premier League goal for Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park since April 2018 against Leicester, while this was his first such goal there excluding penalties since May 2017 against Hull.
• The average age of Crystal Palace’s starting XI was 30 years and 351 days, the oldest of any starting XI in the competition this season. Palace have named 17 of the 20 oldest starting line-ups in 2019-20.

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