Jase

How Thibaut Courtois got back to his best to lift Chelsea to Premier League's summit

Yes, Pickford (not Mannone) would have saved it. It was low shot but it deflected over and hit the crossbar. And seriously, are you going to use that one moment to defend Willian here?

He hit the crossbar...via a deflection. Yes, we missed chances all night but I'm talking specifically about Willian - nothing in his overall performance was anything different than what we have seen.

Riigghhhttt...in Willian's case, we all know his strengths and also his weaknesses and the latter is outweighing the former at the moment. I have nothing against Willian but up till now, he's done nothing to suggest he's improved over the years. And take a look at his decision making, for instance, in yesterday's game. We have all criticized him for his poor decision making but he did nothing to dispel that at Sunderland when he had the opportunities. There were several occasions where he could have played in Costa, Pedro and 1-2 others in dangerous positions way earlier but what did he do? He continued to dribble with the ball, ended up running into cul-de-sacs and nothing happened in the end. We have seen that countless of times before and nothing has changed. It's beyond frustrating to watch him to say the very least.

If you get nervous over facing Pulis' teams, then I get nervous over facing Pardew's teams. He has a history of beating us, even when his team is in rubbish form (e.g. results against Newcastle).

He fought all comers and practically told everyone they're wrong about Karius, only to agree with them by dropping him? It's just bizarre and that will help the keeper's confidence a lot.

It should depend on the opposition, IMO. If we're playing teams like West Brom, Sunderland, Hull etc, who we know are just going to sit back and defend most of the time, then I'll go Fabregas and Matic/Kante. Otherwise, Kante and Matic and only bring Fabregas on if we need him.

Wait, you describing Willian's performances there? He looked dangerous when he's running with the ball - which has always been the case - but other than that, I thought he was poor. His decision making was poor. His finishing was poor. His movement was average at best.

I don't get Klopp. He's defended Karius against everybody in the public and suddenly he dropped him against Middlesbrough? What's that all about?

Pedro? If Hazard was fit, Willian wouldn't have played and if Hazard had played, we would have likely scored 2 or 3 goals. Willian's passing and finishing in the final was so painful to watch.

Like kmk108 above, feel like we're going to drop points in this game. Palace, under Pardew, always seem tricky and never quite know what you're going to get with them. I do expect us to score though, given their horrendous defensive record (gotta exploit them at set pieces!), but we have to be way more clinical in the final third than we were at Sunderland.

http://www.chelseafc.com/news/latest-news/2016/12/good-defender-good-man.html Plenty of high praises from the other players. Not just a great player but also a great bloke too!

Wonder save.

Nail. On. Head. He's all workrate and nothing else. Conte either needs to make him a squad player or sell him off entirely. He's been here like for 3 years and it's probably fair to say he has barely improved.

Crystal Palace 0-1 Chelsea PRE/POST-MATCH DISCUSSION, LIVE CHAT AND ANALYSIS 2016/17 Premier League Match 17 17th December, Saturday, 2016 Selhurst Park 12:30 Kick Off (UK time)

Did everything well tonight but in the final third. Absolutely dreadful. Poor passes, poor finishes. Thank god Courtois was sharp to save that last minute shot from Van Aanholt.

But he's not my mate. So I don't trust him. Anyway, turns out Hazard will be out for the game, which is a major fuck up!

You're tempting fate. Next thing we know, they'll beat us and lose to the others in the reverse fixtures!

If this deal suddenly collapses, it's on you!

Fair enough but I'll believe it when I see it coming from journalists or some more reliable sources.

Would restrain from praising the board too much. After all, they have a history of following up on the good work done with some major fuck up decisions!

He claimed to be there and you're just going to believe him?

Pardon me but who is this Jack Mellis? And at the risk of looking silly, are we supposed to believe team news stuff from some ITKs?