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Lampard praises ‘fantastic’ Chilwell as Chelsea hit Crystal Palace for four

Chelsea got back to winning ways with a comfortable 4-0 win over Crystal Palace at Stamford Bridge on Saturday afternoon, with Frank Lampard picking out the performance of Ben Chilwell who bagged himself a goal and an assist on his Premier League debut for the club.

A well drilled Palace side blunted Chelsea’s expensively assembled attacking lineup in the first half, the teams going in at the break with the game goalless with neither ‘keeper having been overly troubled.

However, within five minutes of the restart, Lampard’s side grabbed the lead which all stemmed from a mistake at the back from Palace defender Mamadou Sakho. The Frenchman miskicked his attempted clearance which allowed Chelsea to recycle the ball, Cesar Azpilicueta’s effort deflecting to Tammy Abraham, whose flick towards the back post was met by new signing Chilwell, the left-back lashing the ball into the back of the net on the volley.

Chelsea spurned an opportunity to double their lead as a Kurt Zouma header from a 59th min corner drifted agonisingly wide, however, just seven minutes later, the centre-back did find the net as the 25-year-old leapt highest to head home a wonderful floated delivery from the left by Chilwell.

Crystal Palace have produced some notable displays in the early part of the season, though never really got going in this one, and after young defender Tyrick Mitchell brought Tammy Abraham brought down in the box with 12 minutes to play, regular penalty taker Jorginho stepped up, produced his trademark skip, and cooly sent Vicente Guaita the wrong way with the resulting penalty.

Four minutes later, the Italy international midfielder repeated the trick to make it 4-0 with an almost carbon copy spot-kick, club record signing Kai Havertz having been brought down by Sakho after the German had dinked the ball over the defender’s leg.

Speaking afterwards Frank Lampard picked out the performance of England international Chilwell as instrumental to the win, the left-back having seemingly settled into life at Stamford Bridge instantly while others are taking a little longer to bed in.

“Not too many put four past Crystal Palace,” Lampard told BT Sport. “First half we started well, we came off it a little bit. We needed a bit more. It was great for us to get four goals.

“Just the urgency of our game needed more. We needed to get Ben Chilwell into the game. We can’t allow Palace’s back four to say dealing with Chelsea’s front line was easy.

“Ben Chilwell was fantastic today. His ability to be so high up the pitch, and that’s not a bad thing, and his great quality on the ball. The lads who have come in have all had issues so we need to give them time but Ben has shown what he’s all about.”

During the build-up for the second penalty, captain Azpilicueta was forced to step in to defuse a small on-field spat, with striker Abraham looking to jump the penalty-taking pecking order ahead of Jorginho. However, Lampard said afterwards that Abraham had been put in his place.

“It’s been dealt with. No problems. Just dealt with. I want leaders – and a little bit of conflict. It’s good that Tammy was enthusiastic but you don’t jump ahead of the list.”

Next up for Chelsea after the international break is a home game against Southampton.

Read – Ranking the five Premier League managers most likely to win the dreaded sack race

See also – Depay, Janujaz, Iheanacho – Five talented young players who were sold with buy-back clauses

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Ben ChilwellChelseaCrystal PalaceFrank Lampard