Hakim Ziyech’s volley in the 89th-minute snatched a late 1-0 win for newly-crowned world champions Chelsea at Crystal Palace.
It looked destined to end goalless, but the Blues made it nine wins on the bounce against Palace after substitute Marcos Alonso’s cross found Ziyech free at the back post.
Ziyech thought he had scored for Chelsea after 75 minutes, finishing from close-range after Romelu Lukaku’s parried effort fell for him in the area, before VAR showed the Belgium striker to be offside.
Wilfried Zaha had two big chances – one to open the scoring at the end of the first half and the other to equalise deep in the second – but fired both wide.
Chelsea came close through Christain Pulisic, Antonio Rudiger and N’Golo Kante in the first half, but their finishing let them down. Kante firing straight at Vincente Guaita after being played through on goal by Malang Sarr.
