December 14 2013

Marouane Chamakh

Crystal Palace went down to a 2-1 defeat against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

Palace's two-game winning run came to an end as Chelsea moved to just two points off the top of the table and they extended their unbeaten home streak in the league to 16 games.

Blues striker Fernando Torres struck the opener after 16 minutes after he reacting quickly to turn in a rebound after Willian's initial effort hit the post.

Branislav Ivanovic and Michael Essien wasted chances for the Blues as Palace midfielder Kagisho Dikgacoi was replaced by Stuart O'Keefe in the 26th minute through injury.

Just before the half hour mark, Palace were on level terms through Marouane Chamakh who nipped in front of John Terry to score his third goal in as many games from Joel Ward's cross.

However, Chelsea restored their lead 10 minutes before the break with a curler from Ramires just outside the box.

Julian Speroni saved from Willian before Jason Puncheon's strike was blocked by opposite number Petr Cech and before keeping out a Damien Delaney header.

Palace went closer to equalising when O'Keefe's shot was brilliantly saved by Cech and his second effort was was blocked by Branislav Ivanovic before the ball was hacked to safety.

Delaney nodded wide of the goal, while Speroni reacted well to keep out shots from substitutes Andre Schurrle and Demba Ba and Ramires late on.

Chelsea: Cech, Ivanovic, Luiz, Terry, Azpilicuta, Essien, Ramires, Willian (Schurrle 82), Mata (Oscar 62), Hazard, Torres (Ba 84).

Not used: Schwarzer, Cole, Eto'o, Lampard.

Palace: Speroni, Mariappa, Gabbidon, Delaney, Ward; Bannan (Bolasie 51), Jedinak, Dikgacoi 5 (O'Keefe 26), Puncheon, Chamakh (Gayle 88), Jerome.

Not used: Price, Parr, Williams, Kebe.

2013/14 match reports

2013/14 squad stats

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