28 December 2023 , 07:22
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Chelsea supersub Noni Madueke held his nerve while Roy Hodgson was left fuming by the last-gasp VAR drama.
Referee Michael Salisbury gave an 89th-minute penalty after being sent to his VAR screen to check Eberechi Eze’s challenge on Madueke. It looked a debatable decision, but was certainly rough on Crystal Palace who battled hard and felt they had done enough to earn a point at Stamford Bridge.
Instead, Madueke stepped up to slot home from the spot to give Chelsea a much-needed 2-1 victory and condemn Palace to another defeat as they are now eight without a win. Palace boss Hodgson said: “I’m tempted to say: ‘what’s the point?’ You have to accept there’s two referees in every game and every time something happens on the field of play, the referee makes the decision, you still have to wait a few minutes to see if the other referee has seen something different.
“It happens. People will discuss was it or wasn’t it? People are taking away the decisions – trashing if you like – the decisions made by the guy on the field and handing it over to someone in front of a TV screen.
“It wasn’t my obvious idea of what a penalty looks like, but that’s the same for so many penalties that I’ve seen given, because I’m conditioned to some extent after seeing penalties given and not given for many years. Then the next question is whether I’m frightened to death now because we’re only a few points above the relegation zone. I’ll answer that one for you as well: No, I’m not.”
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Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino was full of praise for Madueke, who came off the bench to win the game having been nagging his manager for game time. Pochettino said: “I want all the players [who] are not involved to go at me. I like it because we won the game.
"He got the penalty and scored it. We are not a charity. We are a football club and we need to perform. We are here to try to help the players to perform.
Noni Madueke's late penalty won the game for Chelsea (Shaun Brooks/Action Plus/REX/Shutterstock)HAVE YOUR SAY! What did you make of the penalty decision? Comment below.
“Sometimes we need to be tough and show the reality and put in front of them the mirror to show ‘come on, that is not the player that is going to perform.’ We have an amazing group of players, very nice people.
“But to compete in Chelsea is not the same as another club. It’s about winning, to lift trophies, to respect the history of the club. How do you respect? Go in there fighting. The first thing is to have the right mentality and show respect to the history of the club.”
Chelsea went ahead after just 13 minutes following super work from Malo Gusto who turned brilliantly on the half way line, stormed forward and then provided the cross for Mykhailo Mudryk to fire home only his third goal for the club.
It was a one-sided first half but the visitors never gave up and levelled in injury time as Michael Olise peeled off his marker Levi Colwill and the Palace forward finished brilliantly. Chelsea forward Nicolas Jackson wasted a glorious chance, had another effort ruled out by VAR for offside but then Madueke won it after the late drama.