Eagles Earn First Victory In 24 Years Over London Rivals

Chelsea suffered a potentially fatal blow to their Barclays Premier League title challenge as Crystal Palace boosted their survival chances with a stunning victory over Jose Mourinho’s men at Selhurst Park.

Chelsea entered the weekend as leaders, having played more games than their title rivals Manchester City and Liverpool, and with an unbeaten record in London derbies this term.

The Blues beat Arsenal 6-0 last weekend for a sixth capital success of the season, but in their 10th London derby a John Terry own goal saw Palace claim a 1-0 win for a first league victory over Chelsea in nearly 24 years.

It was the Blues’ second successive away loss following the defeat at Aston Villa, which left Mourinho questioning referee Chris Foy’s performance.

Only Palace could have cause to complain at Lee Mason’s officiating on Saturday, as twice in the space of two first-half minutes the referee rejected penalty claims when Gary Cahill challenged Cameron Jerome and then Yannick Bolasie.

Both might have been given in other circumstances, but Palace, who were organised, resilient and dangerous on the counter-attack, put the incidents behind them to earn victory.

Tony Pulis’ men had chances before and after Terry rose above Joe Ledley to divert Joel Ward’s cross into his own net early in the second half.

Mourinho had cause to speak to a ball-boy in stoppage time after feeling the ball was being returned slowly as his side slipped to defeat ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League quarter-final first leg at Paris St Germain.

The ball-boy incident showed Mourinho’s frustrations as his Chelsea side were second best throughout in front of a raucous Eagles support.