27th December, 2023
By Kazeem Ugbodaga
Noni Madueke hit a late winner for Chelsea against Crystal Palace from the penalty spot on Wednesday to give his team a 2-1 win at the Stamford Bridge Stadium.
The match was heading to a draw when Madueke was brought down by Ebere Eze in the 89th minute. After the VAR check, the referee blew the whistle for a penalty.
Madueke won the battle of wills and sent an unstoppable penalty past Dean Henderson into the bottom left corner.
Earlier in the first half, Chelsea had taken the lead in the 13th minute of the match through Mykhailo Mudryk.
He connected with a pass inside the box and slammed home into the bottom right corner, with the goalkeeper helpless.
Palace equalised a minute into the first half added time. Michael Olise found some space inside the box to meet a beautiful cross and with a precise low drive put the ball into the bottom right corner.
Midway into the second half Nicolas Jackson picked up a cross on the edge of the 18-yard box and hammered the ball precisely into the bottom left corner, but the goal was ruled out for offside.
A snapshot by Michael Olise towards the end of the game from the edge of the area flew towards the bottom right corner, but Djordje Petrovic produced a good save to thwart him.