Five things we learned from Palace’s 3-1 defeat at Chelsea
Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s poorest performance in a Palace shirt
It is rare to see the young full-back struggle but here, largely up against Pedro, he seemed to struggle. Was not tight enough to Alvaro Morata for the striker’s first goal and was caught marking Antonio Rudiger with James Tomkins before the second – leaving Morata free to fire home. The England U21 international still has lots to learn.
Palace struggle from set pieces
Even before Morata was given the freedom of the penalty area to control a free-kick and score, the Eagles had defended set pieces so poorly. David Luiz won three headers from corners, one of which forced a fantastic save from Wayne Hennessey.
Eagles need a focal point
As hard as Wilfried Zaha and Andros Townsend work up front together, they are far better served playing off a target man. Even when this became so clear midway through the second half, Roy Hodgson opted to put on Jordan Ayew over Alexander Sorloth.
Max Meyer shows flashes of quality
Palace’s poorest spell towards the end of the first half coincided with Meyer’s least effective. Every time the 22-year-old touched the ball, his team appeared to be at their most threatening to the Chelsea back four. However, Meyer should have opened the scoring on 20 minutes but ballooned over the crossbar.
Milivojevic continues below-par run of displays
The Serb’s form this season has come under serious scrutiny and can perhaps be linked to his fallout with the Serbia national team’s coaching staff. But at Stamford Bridge the usually dependable midfielder seemed off the pace and committed so many needless fouls which increased the frustration from the Palace faithful.
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