Crystal Palace vs Chelsea: Rare N'Golo Kante goal saves Blues in snoozefest

Crystal Palace 0-1 Chelsea: The Frenchman's second-half strike was enough to give the visitors all three points

One surging run, one sudden quick ball forward out of so, so many slow passes but - ultimately - 1-0 to Chelsea. N’Golo Kante’s fine goal briefly illuminated one of the worst games of the season, as this was very much the negative side - in all senses - of Crystal Palace’s approach against such teams.

And yet, through that, a game where so little happened actually ended up saying a lot about both sides and where they are.

So did the goal, in that it was something novel and exciting amid so much turgid repetition. That does at least have a point from Maurizio Sarri’s perspective, and here brought three points, to ensure Roy Hodgson’s side would not repeat the success of their victory over Manchester City.

They will just keep playing out this style of game in a season that can only ever be described as "safe".

The problem was not just Chelsea, after all, but also the very productivity that Palace enjoyed in that win over City.

Having beaten the champions by keeping the defence back and looking to hit on the break, they were obviously going to do that against a manager who sets up in such a similar way. It’s just that approach, more often than not, results in turgid water-treading matches rather than rousing victories.

This was very much the former, as a Chelsea that are still so much slower than Sarri would like tried to trudge their way through the Selhurst Park trenches.

It was little surprise that so many passing moves ended with the ball just going back to Jorginho and then Jorginho trying to play it back out to the wings, or that Chelsea’s only early chances came from set-pieces. The first half was really only remarkable for one brief flurry around a free-kick that should never have been given, followed by a corner that should never have been given.

Hazard actually tripped himself just outside the box, with Willian’s free-kick against the outside post then seeing a corner awarded.

When Ross Barkley hit the post from an improvised overhead moments later, the home crowd cheered that a goal kick was finally given.

This is also the issue with Chelsea. While the framework of the Sarri system is clearly place - as illustrated by so, so many passes - none of the gleaming gloss is. Five months in, and after those opening wins naturally plateaued, they are still a side on a learning curve.

Kante scored the only goal of the game (REUTERS)

With the way they play, and what they’re trying to, there are times when Chelsea remind of a child repeatedly kicking a ball against a wall one-touch. It starts off slow, but the entire idea is that it becomes so ingrained through mere repetition that it begins to get faster and faster and faster until it’s actually impressive to watch.

The wonder - as has been the case for all of these five months so far - remains how long it will take Chelsea to get that level, but that maybe why their goal here was so relevant.

There was first of all the fact it came from the type of variation within the passing structure that Sarri would idealise, and shows ideas are beginning to sink in because there is then a confidence to try that.

There was then the fact that it came from the player whose role has caused such debate, and specifically from the requirements of that role.

All season, the argument has been that Kante is better sitting in front of the defence and that his boundless energy is wasted in a role without the same focus. Not here.

Chelsea stayed in the hunt for the top four (AFP/Getty Images) (AFP)

You can imagine this was something else Sarri idealises. After a typical passage of passing, the ball ended up at the feet of David Luiz, with the move that followed something else that looked well rehearsed. It did genuinely look as if a signal had been given, as Kante began motoring toward the Palace goal in a run of such suddenness and unexpectedness that it took out the entire defence, with David Luiz then finding him with a fine arching ball for the midfielder to divert past the goalkeeper Vicente Guaita. He might have done better, but Palace were not going to do much more. That was it. That pattern had been set. Chelsea were passing their way to victory.

The aim remains, however, to pass their way to something better than this.

This did at least maybe provide a pointer for the way forward, as Palace showed how they play football that will always keep them in the division, but doesn’t look like bringing them forward in a broader sense.