Chelsea 1-2 Crystal Palace

by Amar Azamat Stamford Bridge

A RESULT of this magnitude shouldn’t matter this early in the season. And it won’t. However, Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea need to arrest their slide if they want to remain champions.

A rare home defeat under Mourinho — only his second loss in exactly 100 matches  — means that the Blues concede yet more ground to the early season pace-setters.

Crystal Palace’s Joel Ward scored the winning goal late in the second half, moments after new Chelsea striker Radamel Falcao had pulled his team level.

Bakary Sako had given the visitors a 65th-minute lead.

Chelsea now lie eight points adrift of last season’s runners-up Manchester City, having taken just four points from as many matches. Importantly, they have conceded nine goals in these matches.

Mourinho was critical of some of his players and,  though he refused to name them, it is thought that the performances of Branislav Ivanovic and Cesc Fabregas are particularly under scrutiny.

“I am not happy,” said Mourinho. “I cannot say I had 11 men performing. Two or three of them, their individual performance was not good, I made mistake not to change one of them who stayed on for 90 minutes. I needed a fourth substitute and I only have three.”

They now have two weeks to address the issues as the international break halts the domestic campaign. Before then comes the closure of the transfer window tomorrow. One cannot help but wonder if this Chelsea squad is good enough to reclaim their league title.

To Mourinho’s credit, he was praiseworthy of his opponents. On the evidence of this early start, Alan Pardew’s side could be challenging for a final position that could give them European football next season. The win meant Pardew became the only manager to have beaten the Portuguese boss three times in the Premier League.

“I have to say that this was the best performance I’ve seen from the team during my time here,” said Pardew.

“I’m talking about the manner of the performance. We beat a good team and if we can keep everyone fit, then we could have a good season.”