It could have ended with a great flourish for Chelsea, a goal for Didier Drogba or John Terry, or even something spectacular from Eden Hazard, but for Jose Mourinho this was as fitting a Premier League-title clinching game as anything that the big names could conceive on their own. In the end, his Chelsea simply sapped the life from their opponents, as only they can.
Mourinho’s team took the lead when they were not playing well and then squeezed the life out the game until every route Crystal Palace could see to goal was a dead-end, every last challenge fought tenaciously. And so it was that the fourth title of the Roman Abramovich era, the third for Mourinho, was secured at Stamford Bridge – with the virtues of commitment, dedication and a steely determination to see the job through.
The winning goal from Eden Hazard, a rebound from his own saved penalty, came from a decision by referee Kevin Friend that was at the very least, debatable. By the end of the game, substitutions and tactical changes meant that Mourinho’s team had eight players in defensive positions.
As ever, they stayed strong to the very end, although this was never a procession. Not that the home support cared about that. In the five years since Carlo Ancelotti won their last title, Chelsea have learned that these trophies do not come as easy as they once might have thought. While other clubs have melted in the pressure this season, Mourinho’s Chelsea have got ever stronger.
The third English league title of his career puts Mourinho on a par with Arsene Wenger, Stan Cullis and Bill Shankly. Mourinho was edgy rather than ebullient for much of the game. In the first half he seemed most disappointed with the efforts of the home fans in comparison to Palace’s away support. He gave the away end a thumbs-up. Later the away end sang, “Jose is a Palace fan’
At half-time he brought on John Obi Mikel, then Kurt Zouma and Filipe Luis in the closing stages as Chelsea hung grimly onto their lead. With seconds remaining he turned towards the spectators behind his dugout and rolled his eyes at the difficulty of seeing this one over the line.
He might have been looking at his wife Tami, who was sitting in the seats just by the dugout. The significant other of the Chelsea manager rarely finds herself at Stamford Bridge on matchday, but then this was a matchday like few others. It is not every day in a manager’s career when he finds himself within three points of the eighth league title of his career.
A strange week for the Mourinhos, with Jose’s 76-year-old father Felix having suffered a brain haemorrhage that has necessitated visits back to Portugal this week from his son. It was the experience of seeing his father, also a football manager, sacked once on Christmas Day that drove on the son to the great heights he has scaled. It would be fair to say no-one will be sacking Jose II anytime soon.
His team have done it with three game to spare and could yet reach 92 points, just three short of the Premier League record that they set in Mourinho’s first season in charge, 2004-2005. The quality of this Chelsea team has not been in question, it is simply that since Mourinho adopted the defensive position of the last few months it has been less than thrilling for the rest of us.
His programme notes were ten words long, “Three more points to be champions. Let’s do it together”, but Chelsea made heavy weather of it in the first half. Before the game, Ramires was taken ill, serious enough that he went to hospital, and in his place came Juan Cuadrado with Nathan Ake promoted to the bench.
Their lead came from a debatable penalty in the last minute of the half when Hazard squeezed between Adrian Mariappa and James McArthur and popped out the other side airborne, as if fired from a cannon.
It looked like Mariappa might have had the decisive touch, but once he felt it, Hazard launched. These are difficult decisions to make when the best attacking player in the league is travelling so rapidly and Friend, the referee, looked like he made the easiest in the circumstances. You could make a case either way. It was by no means clear cut.
With the penalty, Hazard tried to deceive Julian Speroni with his eyes but the old Argentinian is too cute for that. He guessed right, dived left and saved the ball. The rebound bounced kindly for Hazard to head in, a much more difficult finish than it looked.
Otherwise, Palace had done well and might have had a penalty themselves when John Terry threw life and limb in front of a Jason Puncheon shot on 29 minutes. The ball had struck the Chelsea captain’s hand first, which was not in a natural position.
At half-time, Mourinho replaced Cuadrado who had tried hard but with little effect. On came Zouma to thicken a midfield that was getting more crowded with every tactical switch. The gradual dawning on Palace was, as many teams have found against Chelsea, that conceding the first goal was lethal. Their belief drained from them and they struggled to get beyond a defence superbly led again by Terry.
He will get his hands on the Premier League trophy come the last home game of the season against Sunderland when the party can resume again. does not expect Mourinho to let up against Liverpool or West Bromwich Albion in the interim, and after 24 May it will be up to the rest to figure out a way of stopping them next season.
Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Courtois; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry, Azpilicueta; Matic, Fabregas; Cuadrado (Mikel, ht), Willian (Zouma, 85), Hazard (Luis, 90); Drogba.
Substitutes not used: Cech (gk), Remy, Ake, Loftus-Cheek.
Crystal Palace (4-3-3): Speroni; Mariappa (Kelly, 60), Dann, Delaney, Ward; Puncheon (Sanogo, 70), McArthur, Ledley; Mutch (Murray, 61), Bolasie, Zaha.
Substitute not used: Hennessy (gk), Hangeland, Jedinak, Chung-Yong.
Referee: K Friend
Booked: Chelsea Ivanovic, Terry Crystal Palace Mariappa Dann
Attendance: 41,566
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