Crystal Palace defeated Chelsea in a five-goal thriller in yesterday's Premier League 2 clash.

On the stroke of half-time, Chelsea broke the deadlock as a whipped delivery from Vale found the head of Xavier Mbuyamba, whose blocked effort trickled towards Joe Haigh and he prodded home.

Against the run of play, the home side pulled level as an attempted Alfie Gilchrist clearance resulted in him fouling John Kymani-Gordon in the penalty area. Nya Kirby stepped up and converted from the spot.

With 10 minutes to go, after a shot on goal which Lucas Bergstrom parried, Kymani-Gordon reacted quickest to convert.

Chelsea responded almost instantly from a corner again as Gilchrist atoned for his earlier error by heading powerfully into the goal. With four minutes to go though, the decisive blow was struck as Kymani-Gordon's weak deflected effort took a wicked deflection off Gilchrist, wrong-footing Bergstrom and giving the Eagles the three points against the balance of play.