An early season hammering by Manchester United raised a few concerns about the way Chelsea play, over-committing in attack at the expense of defensive stability, but with the club sat in second place in the table before Liverpool vs Manchester City, something is clearly working.

Frank Lampard’s Chelsea are getting results by playing entertaining football and opposition teams are so concerned about this they sit deep against them to prevent being opened up by slick forward play. It’s a conundrum Liverpool and Manchester City often encounter - how to beat a defending team sat in a compact block without being hit on the counter.

Roy Hodgson opted for exactly this highly defensive setup in Crystal Palace’s 2-0 defeat on Saturday. By staying compact in a low block, Palace’s plan was to frustrate and tease Chelsea into sending players forward in an attempt to gain numerical superiority, leaving spaces to exploit on the counter as a result. It worked well in the first half, with Chelsea limited to few chances.

“We’ve had a few teams come here who are tough to break down and it is a test,” said Lampard after the match. “It’s about how do you break them down with the ball at your feet, it’s also switching on not to get hit with the sucker punch. Palace are absolutely setup to do that with Andros [Townsend] and Zaha.”