Crystal Palace targeted Chelsea’s left side to pull the defence out of position

Crystal Palace fully deserved their two goals against Chelsea, even if the opener was an own goal. Palace perfectly stretched and destroyed Chelsea’s defence, causing grave concerns about what a team above 20th place could do to the Blues.

Cesar Azpilicueta may have felt he was back in 2014 at Selhurst Park on Saturday. He spent much of the game defending the left side of Chelsea’s defence, as he did for his first few seasons in Blue while Branislav Ivanovic took the right.

Unfortunately, unlike those years, Azpilicueta did not have three defenders stretched across the pitch from his place on the left to the right touchline. Instead, Azpilicueta was often the right-most defender even though he was solidly to the left of Chelsea’s goal.

Crystal Palace targeted and overloaded Chelsea’s left side. Palace knew – as everyone knows, especially now – that Chelsea’s left side is slower and less adept in the tackle than the right. With Wilfried Zaha back in the lineup Crystal Palace played in a 4-4-2. Zaha was the left forward but played primarily in the centre, while his partner Andros Townsend focused his attentions on Marcos Alonso and Gary Cahill.

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Palace’s midfielders and right fullback played Townsend into the space behind Marcos Alonso. Once Townsend had the ball in that space, Alonso was no longer a factor in the play. This brought Gary Cahill up from the back line to challenge Townsend, and try at least to slow him down. David Luiz then shifted from the centre to Cahill’s position on the left. In turn, Cesar Azpilicueta had no choice but to come into the centre, often to the left side of Chelsea’s box.

Azpilicueta had two responsibilities, each of which required a single defender. First, he had to be last-man-back as the play moved from Chelsea’s left flank in towards Thibaut Courtois. Crystal Palace played very directly from the left touchline towards the box. Azpilicueta was the last line of defence behind Cahill and Luiz, all stacked to one side.

Azpilicueta also had to protect the centre of the pitch. With Gary Cahill and David Luiz taking on Townsend on the left, the space directly in front of Chelsea’s goal was wide open. A pass into that space to Wilfried Zaha or anyone else would have created another overload, with only Azpilicueta and possibly Tiemoue Bakayoko in a position to intercept or tackle.

Crystal Palace stretched and molded Chelsea’s defence like putty. Within the first 35 minutes they had the entire focus of play shift to Chelsea’s left. Their second goal exploited the same space behind the wing-backs, but this time on Chelsea’s right. It was a perfect case of drawing the play one way, and then striking to the other.

Last season, Tottenham were the first club to crack the code of Antonio Conte’s 3-4-3. Spurs ended the Blues’ 13-game win streak by getting in behind the wing-backs, and then splitting the centre-backs with a sharp aerial pass. Fortunately for Chelsea, this required Tottenham’s level of speed and quality. Few teams could replicate Tottenham’s game plan and achieve the same result.

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If Crystal Palace could take apart Chelsea so effectively, the Blues are in serious trouble. Looking back from Saturday, Chelsea may have been lucky to lose only 1-0 to Manchester City. Roy Hodgson and the previously winless draw-less goalless Eagles bent Chelsea to their will. Antonio Conte needs a solution, because the next opponent to execute a similar strategy will walk out much more than 2-1 victors.