Chelsea tactics
Jose Mourinho had retained the outfield players that started in midweek at Leicester City but Ramires was belatedly deemed unfit to start through illness, so Juan Cuadrado replaced the Brazilian midfielder as the right attacking midfielder in a 4-2-3-1 formation.
The Blues boss wanted his side to dominate possession, keep play in Palace’s half and have his full-backs stretc the opposition with their movements down the touchline.
Cesc Fabregas and Nemanja Matic were the two central midfielders who initiated the measured attacks. Fabregas then pushed forward to join the attacking midfielders leaving Matic as the sitting midfielder protecting the central defenders.
Branislav Ivanovic and Cesar Azpilicueta supplied the width down the flanks as usual, while the wide attacking midfielders, Eden Hazard and Cuadrado, drifted inside from the flanks to join Willian in supporting Didier Drogba.
Drogba completed the offensive formation as the centre forward looking to attack service from the flanks. The Ivorian also dropped short to help link up play with his back to goal.
He led the defending when out of possession, while Cuadrado and Hazard pressed from the sides of midfield. Willian defended just behind Drogba while Fabregas dropped to join Matic in protecting the back-four.
Crystal Palace tactics
Alan Pardew has enjoyed marked success against Chelsea in recent years during his time at Newcastle and he tried to extend that run with a tailor-made game plan for this encounter. The Palace boss had six strikers available to him but he turned to Yannick Bolasie as his centre forward.
The idea was to contain Chelsea with a deep and compact defensive unit, then exploit Chelsea’s high line on the break with a pacy front-three. That is why Bolasie started up top with Jason Puncheon and Wilfried Zaha providing a threat down the flanks during quick transitional plays.
It also meant that Bolasie led the defending from the halfway line, while Zaha and Puncheon pressed from the sides of central midfielders. James McArthur and Joe Ledley double-pivoted in central midfield to complete a midfield line of four that aligned in front of the back-four. Jordon Mutch defended just in front of the midfield line to complete a 4-4-1-1 defensive formation.
When in possession, Bolasie peeled away from Gary Cahill to receive the ball in the space that Ivanovic left behind. Zaha and Mutch also converged on that left side looking to win the long balls and any subsequent second balls.
With good possession in the offensive half, Puncheon and Zaha drifted inside as inverted wingers supporting Bolasie in the box, with the left-footed Puncheon coming in from the right flank while the right-footed Zaha drifted inside from the left flank.
Key tactical changes
Palace executed their game plan better than their hosts in the first-half. Pardew’s men retained their shape when defending while causing Chelsea problems with the long diagonal balls played to the right side of Chelsea’s defence.
The Blues had more possession but they struggled to work the ball when they reached the final-third so they created very few chances.
Still, they took the lead after a penalty award so Mourinho turned to John Obi Mikel as Matic’s partner to offer more protection to the defenders. Fabregas pushed forward to join Willian and Hazard as the attacking midfielders behind Drogba.
That switch not only helped the Blues defensively but it also gave Mourinho’s men a platform to control the game through ball retention. They lowered the tempo of the game, which suited them, so Pardew tried to avoid the game petering out by introducing Glenn Murray up top.
The substitution was designed to give Palace a target for long balls but it barely helped the Eagles, so Pardew took another risk by sacrificing Mutch in midfield to turn to a 4-4-2 formation. Yaya Sanogo came on as a supporting striker to Murray, while Zaha and Bolasie completed the game as wide midfielders.
Even that failed to help Palace effectively impose themselves because they had a man less in midfield, which made it easier for Chelsea to monopolise the ball.
Just to make sure of the result, Mourinho turned to three holding midfielders in the last 10 minutes with Kurt Zouma joining Matic and Mikel in front of the back-four.
