Heroic Crystal Palace stun Chelsea

Chelsea slipped to their first defeat since January as Crystal Palace secured a memorable 2-1 win at Stamford Bridge.

The Blues raced into an early lead on five minutes as Cesc Fabregas applied the finish from Eden Hazard’s cross, but Palace turned the game on its head with two goals in two minutes - Wilfried Zaha equalising with a stunning solo goal before setting up Christian Benteke for the Belgian’s 10th goal of the season.

Chelsea had countless opportunities to level the game but the visitors, marshalled by the imperious Mamadou Sakho, held on to claim a famous victory which will go some way to sealing their place in the top flight next term.

Diego Costa missed a hatful of opportunities while Antonio Conte will also look back on Craig Pawson’s decision not to give his side a penalty as Andros Townsend’s appeared to handle the ball to block Pedro’s goal-bound shot in the first-half.

Palace will care little as they claimed their fourth consecutive victory to move four points clear of the drop zone while Tottenham’s 2-0 victory over Burnley means Chelsea’s lead at the top of the table is now reduced to seven points.

Sam Allardyce’s rejuvenated Palace leaves Chelsea sweating. Hiring the disgraced former England manager didn’t seem such a great idea in February as Palace continued to struggle at the bottom end of the table. However, four consecutive wins gives his side some much needed breathing space from their relegation rivals and this latest victory also throws the title race wide open.

Chelsea have both Manchester sides to play in the next couple of weeks while second-placed Spurs have a much easier schedule with Swansea, Watford and Bournemouth next in line. With such a demanding fixture list ahead, just what kind of psychological blow will this defeat have on the Blues?

Wilfried Zaha (Crystal Palace): The Ivory Coast international came into the game full of confidence having scored a stunning goal for his country in mid-week and the 24-year-old was at it again here as he levelled the scores in style before providing a lovely assist for Benteke 90 seconds later.

Chelsea: Courtois 6; Azpilicueta 6, David Luiz 6, Cahill 6; Pedro 7, Kante 6, Matic 6, Alonso 6; Fabregas 7, Diego Costa 6, Hazard 8. Subs: Loftus-Cheek N/A, Willian 6, Batshuayi 6.

Crystal Palace: Hennessy 8, Ward 6, Tomkins 6, Sakho 8, Schlupp 6, Milivojevic 6, Cabaye 6, Puncheon 6, Zaha 8, Townsend 6, Benteke 7. Subs: Dann 6, Delaney 6, Kelly 6.

5’ - GOAL! Chelsea 1-0 Palace. The returning Hazard is at the heart of the Blues’ breakthrough goal as the Belgian goes easily past Ward in a wide area and finds Fabregas who taps in at the near post.

9’ - GOAL! Chelsea 1-1 Palace. Surrounded by blue defenders, the Ivory Coast attacker still manages to get his shot away and it ends up in the bottom corner from inside the area. He's in the form of his life!

11’ - GOAL! Chelsea 1-2 Palace. It's counter-attacking football at its finest! The Belgian forward breaks with a long surging run, plays a one-two with Zaha and then coolly dinks the ball over Courtois to give the visitors the lead. Unbelievable stuff.

16’ - PENALTY APPEAL! A lovely short corner from Chelsea allows the space open up for Pedro to have a shot but Townsend makes the block with a blatant handball in the area. The referee bizzarely dismisses the appeals though!

22’ - STUNNING SAVE! Wonderful football from Chelsea as Fabregas and Hazard link-up with the former delivering a cross for Costa in the penalty area and the Spaniard is denied only by a great point-blank save from Hennessy before the defence hack clear.

61’ - SAVE! Zaha almost puts Palace out of sight as he's played through one-on-one with the goalkeeper but Courtois does brilliantly to get a hand to divert the ball around the post!

75’ - HOW DID HE MISS? Costa gets away from his marker to meet Fabregas' cross but he can't direct his header on goal from a few yards out. It's not going to be Chelsea's day, is it?

80’ - ANOTHER MISS! Hazard fires a shot at goal but Hennessey does well to make the save, the rebound falls to Costa who sees his shot cleared off the line by Sakho.

Christian Benteke has scored in each of his last three Premier League games at Stamford Bridge, each with a different club.

Nine of Wilfried Zaha's 12 goals in the Premier League have come away from home.

Cesc Fabregas has scored in three successive home league games for the first time since March 2010 while at Arsenal.