Crystal Palace hit with huge injury blow ahead of must win games against Watford and Burnley

Crystal Palace were dealt a massive blow after Jack Butland had to replace Vicente Guaita half way through the game against Chelsea.

The South London side made a bright start against the European and World Champions but soon had to deal with their first injury scare after Tyrick Mitchell went down holding his ankle.

After prolonged treatment the left back was back on his feet and the game continued but Selhurst Park soon went quiet when they saw substitute goalkeeper Jack Butland was all stripped and ready for action.

Butland has been a good assistant to Guaita and was the best player when Palace travelled to Brighton and got a huge point last month.

But with Palace entering into the business end of the season and games against Watford and Burnley coming up, Vieira would want to have his best players fit to give him the best possible chance of winning football matches.

Chelsea win late on through Hakim Ziyech

A late Hakim Ziyech strike was the difference in the game with the Moroccan winger volleying home the winner on the 8th minute.

The win was Chelsea’s first away win in the league since Boxing Day and opens a seven point gap between them and fourth placed Manchester United.

Patrick Vieira’s touchline habit that is giving officials nightmares

The Crystal Palace manager is growing a reputation of being hard to deal with on the touchline.

Vieira doesn’t like staying in the technical box provided for managers and most times goes as far as walking onto the pitch to try and get his message across to his players.

Against Chelsea he had to be reminded time after time to stay in his box but that did little to deter the former Arsenal midfielder.

At the beginning of the season Vieira came across as a very calm and composed manager with many questioning if he could get more life into the team from the bench to see out games, and it’s fair to say that he has been improving with constant instructions and taking advantage of every break to issue out instructions.