Crystal Palace vs Chelsea match report: Diego Costa, Oscar and Willian on target as Blues start 2016 with win

Crystal Palace 0 Chelsea 3: Nightmare over at last as Chelsea find mojo

(2016 Getty Images)

How better to start 2016 than this? Chelsea opened their year with a performance better than almost anything they produced in 2015, beating a diminished Crystal Palace side with the style and verve which they had lost utterly in the past few months.

This was the first win of the second Guus Hiddink era, the first step back towards normality for these players after the trauma of their autumn. The three points are desperately important, moving them ahead of Bournemouth and Norwich City and further away from the relegation zone. But what mattered more, out there in the torrential rain at Selhurst Park, were the first signs of expansive, attacking play and natural fluency that Chelsea have shown all season.

Jose Mourinho wanted to build a dynasty at Stamford Bridge, but the main legacy he left when he was sacked last month was a good group of players whose confidence had been destroyed. All the optimism that carried them to last year’s title had been toxified. No wonder they had stopped scoring.

One of Hiddink’s main tasks on his return to Chelsea is to conjure up that confidence and enthusiasm again, to reinvigorate the atmosphere, to remind these talented players how good they are and what they can do. Hiddink spoke positively last week about the “technical skill” Chelsea’s players have and how he has been working on their attacking positioning to make them more dangerous.

This performance was a vindication of all that work, and of the decision to replace Mourinho with Hiddink just before Christmas. This was the best Chelsea have played since they thumped Swansea City away from home 50 weeks ago, the apex of the second Mourinho era.

Chelsea’s great form in the first half of last season was built on the selfless running of Diego Costa and the intelligent prompting of Cesc Fabregas in midfield. The form of those two – along with Eden Hazard, Nemanja Matic and many more – collapsed this season but here they looked sharper than they have since this time last year.

Diego Costa (GETTY IMAGES)

This was not an easy game to play, given the wet pitch, loud crowd and tireless opponents. The players spent the opening stages coming to terms with the conditions. César Azpicilueta slipped and was kicked in the face by Fraizer Campbell. Joel Ward’s face collided painfully with Scott Dann’s knee.

Hazard limped off with a groin strain after 15 minutes, costing him the chance to rediscover his form and maybe even his goalscoring touch. While Hazard received treatment, the rest of Chelsea’s forwards revelled in the chance to play football like they used to.

Fabregas has been the most obvious under-performer, but here, with forwards willing to make runs in front of him, he was a new player. He made the move for the first goal, playing a clever forward pass to Costa, who was running into the inside-right channel. Damien Delaney slid and failed to intercept the ball and Costa drove towards the near post. Shaping at first to shoot, Costa cut the ball back to Oscar, darting into the box, who tapped the ball in. This was the type of simple, incisive goal, based on clever play and trusting runs, that had drifted out of Chelsea’s repertoire in 2015.

Once in front, Chelsea never looked as if they would not win. They should have scored again just before the break, when Oscar’s diagonal ball picked out Azpilicueta’s clever run in behind, only for Wayne Hennessey to be equal to the low shot.

Too many times this season Chelsea have taken an early lead before panicking, sitting back, and losing badly. This time they stayed on the front foot, dominated the second half and made sure of the win with two emphatic goals.

The second came on the hour. Willian started a brisk passing move which went through Costa and Oscar before returning to the Brazilian, whose powerful, 20-yard finish was in the roof of the net before anyone realised what had happened.

Willian made the third six minutes later, bursting from midfield into the inside-right channel, outside the stationary James McArthur. His low cross was palmed away by Hennessey but Costa, instincts re-sharpened, finished at the far post.

That was the end of the contest and the final minutes were dominated by Chelsea’s fans revelling in the absurdity of their situation, singing first that they were going to stay up, then that they were going to win the league. When they sang Mourinho’s name it was not with much enthusiasm.

For Crystal Palace, the main excitement came with 10 minutes left, when Chung-Yong Lee was replaced by Jonny Williams, back from loan at Nottingham Forest and making his first Palace appearance since September 2014. Based on this afternoon, they may well need him.

Palace were without Yohan Cabaye, Yannick Bolasie and Connor Wickham – their brains, their most dangerous attacking player and their only real centre-forward. They were understandably diminished, with Wilfried Zaha and Campbell stationed up front.

Zaha and Campbell had half-chances, but struggled to cause Chelsea real problems. Zaha shot wide from 20 yards after seven minutes, Campbell failed to connect at the far post with a Jason Puncheon cross. Zaha tried to play Campbell in just before Chelsea’s second goal, only for Thibaut Courtois to cut it out.

This was a very different afternoon from the one four months ago when Palace went to Stamford Bridge and won 2-1. Cabaye, Bolasie and Wickham all starred that day but without them Palace look ordinary. Cabaye will return from suspension this weekend and if the other two shake off their injuries then there is no reason why Palace cannot continue to look up and into the European positions.

Chelsea were an even more changed team from that day in August. Yesterday, under Hiddink, they controlled the midfield, attacked with confidence, scored goals and defended as a team. They are still eight points behind Palace, but their nightmare is over.