Morata rues missed hat-trick chance as Chelsea go second
Chelsea are second in the Premier League table after beating Crystal Palace, but Alvaro Morata felt he should have claimed the match ball.
Álvaro Morata was frustrated not to score a hat-trick despite his double firing Chelsea to a 3-1 victory over Crystal Palace that moved the Blues up to second in the Premier League. Morata opened the scoring at Stamford Bridge on Sunday and he later restored the lead for Maurizio Sarri's side after Andros Townsend equalised for the visitors.
Wasted chance
But after Pedro had sealed the points, Morata wasted an opportunity to claim a match ball for the first time since September 2017 when he raced through on goal but failed with an attempted chip on Palace goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey.
"I could have scored a hat-trick so it was not the perfect day, but we will take the three points," Morata told Sky Sports after taking his tally to six goals in all competitions this season. "That is the most important thing for us. We want to fight until the end for the Premier League. We played good. I think a lot about the hat-trick, but I am improving and I want to keep helping my team to win. Palace scored to make it 1-1 so we knew we needed to go and win it and stay at the top with the other teams. We needed the three points. It is very hard because the Premier League is the most competitive league in the world. It will be very difficult. We want to take all the points. It is the only way to try to fight for the league."
Things looking up for Morata
Morata lost confidence in his first season at Chelsea, which was also seriously disrupted by a back injury. But, having scored four goals in his past four Premier League appearances, the striker feels he is getting back to his best. "When you have a bad period, it takes long to recover," he added. "Last year was difficult for me for many things. You don't expect an injury, but now I am good. It is nice to be scoring."
Hodgson proud of Palace
Roy Hodgson's side have lost three consecutive away games in the league, but the Eagles manager felt his team coped with Chelsea's threat for much of the contest. "At the start of the second half we were playing well enough to get back into the game," he told Sky Sports. "In that moment we were looking good and looked capable of holding onto it. But we were always going to find it difficult. They have players with incredible quality. I am proud. I am disappointed that the rewards for our efforts weren't better. I don't think we were confronted with lots of goal chances and we kept them at bay pretty well, but they were clinical. I don't think we were battered by Chelsea. We knew it was going to be tough, we gave it our best shot and came out second best."