Crystal Palace had themselves to blame as Chelsea overcame a tough start to run out 3-1 winners at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
Andros Townsend had cancelled out Alvaro Morata's opener, only for more slack defending to allow the striker to finish from a tight angle before Pedro put the result beyond doubt.
Palace remain 14th with eight points, falling to their seventh loss in their opening 11 games.
Giuseppe Muro was at Stamford Bridge to assess the key talking points...
Reasons to be cheerful
Palace did well at Stamford Bridge and Roy Hodgson will not be too disheartened despite the defeat.
The Eagles matched Chelsea for three-quarters of the match and looked dangerous on the break through Wilfried Zaha and Andros Townsend. Playing Max Meyer and James McArthur wide with Cheikhou Kouyate and Luka Milivojevic in the middle worked well in midfield.
Palace looked solid before Chelsea’s quality eventually shone through in the second half. But if Palace play like this then they will make life difficult for Tottenham and Manchester United in their next two games.
Zaha and Townsend work well
It was always going to be tough ask against an unbeaten Chelsea side but Wilfried Zaha and Andros Townsend again linked up well as the makeshift forward two for Palace.
Their pace caused Chelsea real problems throughout. Palace now need Townsend to build on his goal at Stamford Bridge to help the goalscoring burden on Zaha.
If Palace can keep their front two fit, then they should be fine this season.
Substitutions changed the game
Chelsea’s double substitution to bring on Eden Hazard and Mateo Kovacic after 64 minutes changed the game.
The Blues scored two goals within six minutes to take the game away from Palace, while Roy Hodgson waited until 71 minutes when the Eagles were 3-1 down before making his first change.
The options available to Chelsea are much stronger than the ones available to Hodgson - but could the Palace manager have turned to his bench earlier?
