Chelsea vs. Crystal Palace: Winners and Losers from Premier League
Chelsea defeated Crystal Palace 1-0 on Sunday to claim the Premier League title three weekends early—such has been their dominance over the course of the season.
Eden Hazard won a contentious penalty and converted it at the second attempt, and although the Eagles threatened late on, Jose Mourinho shut up shop and secured the victory.
Here, B/R picks its winners and losers from the game.
Winner: Wilfried Zaha, Who Impressed in Front of the Watching World
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Wilfried Zaha still has plenty of learning to do, but he proved his promise at Stamford Bridge on Sunday. He's improved tenfold since Alan Pardew took charge at Selhurst Park and gave Branislav Ivanovic a real problem during his side's loss.
B/R's Sam Pilger was similarly impressed.
"Wilfried Zaha showing why Manchester United should have shown more patience," Pilger wrote. "Been one of the main reasons behind Palace's stunning form since January."
He still lacks the end product, but there were flashes of brilliance in his performance as he tore down the left flank with consistency. One clever pass to Yaya Sanogo late on nearly fashioned a chance on goal, and he saw a snapshot blocked at close range by Thibaut Courtois.
Loser: Eden Hazard, Who Appeared to Dive for a Penalty
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Eden Hazard, usually the star of the show for all the right reasons, appeared to dive to win a penalty on Sunday afternoon. Slow motion can often make these incidents look worse than they are, but there's no doubt there's a certain amount of leaping involved from the Belgian. It's engineered.
He missed the penalty with a very poor effort, but got lucky as Julian Speroni blocked it back into his path and allowed him to head home on the rebound.
Hazard was rather ineffectual throughout; it was strange to see him so muted.
Winner: John Terry, Who Has Proved His Doubters Wrong
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"Only one person said I can't play twice in a week, he knows who he is, and I've proved him wrong," stated John Terry defiantly to Sky Sports' cameras live on the pitch after the game.
The person in question, Rafa Benitez, certainly has been. Terry played every single minute of every single Premier League game this season as Chelsea marched toward the title, and he was the best outright centre-back in the division across the campaign.
Victory will be sweet for a number of players, but it's possible Terry will enjoy this moment more than any other.
Loser: Juan Cuadrado, Who Continued to Struggle
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Juan Cuadrado was substituted at half-time (for John Obi Mikel) against Crystal Palace after stepping into an emergency starting role in place of the sick Ramires. It didn't go well, and B/R's Garry Hayes wasn't surprised.
"What's happened to Mikel?" Hayes wrote. "He's contributed more in attack in 15 minutes than Cuadrado has since he joined [Chelsea]."
The Colombian's big-money move to Stamford Bridge has been a small disaster thus far, as he has failed to make an impact or crack the XI. He'll get a Premier League winner's medal regardless, but he must be eager for the summer reset and pre-season to come.
Winners: Chelsea and Jose Mourinho, for Securing a Well-Earned Title
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It's obvious, isn't it? But we still need to congratulate Chelsea and Jose Mourinho on what has been a mightily efficient season.
Before Christmas the Blues were electric, decimating all in their path. They've lost two games all season, and they have only recently reverted to "Mourinho type" and sought to see out games with hard-to-beat tactics.
Chelsea have been the best team in the Premier League by a distance this season and deserve the title. The contenders have been poor, but the Blues have blown everyone out of the water.
The question is: Can they improve upon this ahead of next season? They've trounced the competition, but the loss to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League was a serious blip.
Perhaps a marquee signing can tip them over the edge and enable them to compete with the likes of Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid? Paul Pogba could be on the market, as could Marco Reus.
