Two more for Morata as Chelsea see off Palace

Chelsea 3 Crystal Palace 1

Alvaro Morata’s purple patch continued as he scored twice in another Chelsea victory.

Morata opened the scoring just after the half-hour mark and struck again midway through the second half to restore the Blues’ lead after Andros Townsend had equalised.

It took the in-form Spaniard’s goal tally to five in his last six Chelsea appearances.

And Pedro made it 3-1 by meeting Marcos Alonso’s low cross with an emphatic first-time finish with 20 minutes remaining.

The win left Chelsea second in the table, two points behind leaders Manchester City, and 11 games unbeaten means Maurizio Sarri equalled a Premier League record for a new manager at the start of their first season.

Pedro, who was excellent throughout, played a key role in Morata’s opener.

After his cross from the right was headed back towards him by Palace defender James Tomkins, Pedro fired the ball across the face of goal and Morata was on hand to steer it past Wayne Hennessy.

However, a well worked goal by Palace hauled them level eight minutes into the second half.

Tomkins played the ball out from the back and Townsend laid it off to James McArthur before sprinting past David Luiz to collect the Scottish midfielder’s return pass and shoot beyond keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga.

After Hennessy pushed away headers from Morata and Luiz, Sarri brought on the fit-again Eden Hazard along with Mateo Kovacic.

Chelsea were back in front within two minutes – after Palace inexplicably failed to clear Hazard’s free-kick.

The ball dropped to Morata, who calmly found the far corner, and Pedro was just as clinical five minutes later.

Morata missed a great chance to complete a hat-trick in the final seconds, though.

Hazard sent him through on goal and his attempt to lift the ball over Hennessy was caught by the Eagles keeper.