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Your support makes all the difference.Chelsea lead the Premier League table by nine points after beating Crystal Palace 1-0 at Selhurst Park on Saturday thanks to a first-half Diego Costa header, with Arsenal and Liverpool not playing until Sunday and Monday respectively, and recorded their 11th consecutive victory. Re-live the action here.
- Chelsea beat Crystal Palace 1-0 at Selhurst Park
- Diego Costa header seals three points for the Blues
- Costa picks up fifth booking of the season and will miss Boxing Day clash with Bournemouth
- N'Golo Kante will also be suspended against Cherries
- Chelsea lead Arsenal and Liverpool by nine points
Follow live coverage on our blog below...
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It’s a big game for…
Cesc Fabregas: Speculation abounds about Fabregas’ future, despite him recently breaking into Antonio Conte’s starting line-up.
After scoring the decisive goal at Sunderland, he’ll hope he can further stake his claim for a regular place.
Best stat…
8: Crystal Palace have not won any of their last eight games against fellow London clubs. In fact, their last derby victory came at Stamford Bridge in August 2015.
Remember when…
John Terry scored an own goal to gift Tony Pulis’ Palace three points and effectively end Chelsea’s 2013/14 title challenge.
Player to watch…
Wilfried Zaha: The winger’s switch of international allegiances from England to Cote d’Ivoire at the end of last month has coincided with a upturn in form.
Alan Pardew has voiced his frustrations at the national team set-up for forgetting about Zaha, but that may have more to do with the possibility of him now travelling to the Africa Cup of Nations in January and missing a month of the domestic season.
Past three-meetings…
Chelsea 1 (Hazard) Crystal Palace 0
Premier League, May 2015
Chelsea 1 (Falcao) Crystal Palace 2 (Sako, Ward)
Premier League, August 2015
Crystal Palace 0 Chelsea 3 (Oscar, Willian, Costa)
Premier League, January 2016
Form guide…
Crystal Palace: LLWDL
Chelsea: WWWWW
Vital information…
Kick-off time: 12.30pm
TV: Live on Sky Sports, highlights on BBC1
78 MINS
Substitutions: Moses is replaced by Ivanovic
Cabaye is replaced by Campbell
81 MINS
Hazard bursts through the Palace defence and his pace proves too much for Delaney, who hacks him down outside of the box and is booked for his efforts.
Yellow card: Damien Delaney
Attempts so far:
Crystal Palace: 5
Chelsea: 11
84 MINS
Alonso rattles the woodwork with a free-kick from the edge of the box. It's a terrific strike, that beat Hennessey but he is denied only by the crossbar.
Substitution: Kelly has been replaced by Fryers
87 MINS
Palace break forward, but the cross into the box is easily dealt with by Luiz. The home side should be using their aerial threats inside of the box to chase the equaliser, but they are failing to do so.
90 MINS
There will be a minimum of five additional minutes.
There's still hope for Pardew's men it seems...
90(+3) MINS
Dann is hacked down by Fabregas just outside of the penalty area. Townsend stands over the ball, but it's an anticlimactic strike that goes horribly wrong. The effort flies way over the crossbar.
FULL TIME
CRYSTAL PALACE 0 - 1 CHELSEA
It's all over and Chelsea have managed to leave Selhurst Park nine points clear at the top of the table, thanks to a headed goal from Costa. The goal before the interval gave the visitors the advantage and The Eagles failed to find a way back despite a positive start to the second half. In true Chelsea fashion, they've won with a very narrow margin - but nonetheless, Conte and his men will be overjoyed to have continued their fine form today.
That's 11 Premier League wins a row for Chelsea who are continuing to prove their worth at the top of the table.
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