BENCH BLUES!

Palace 0

Chelsea 3

Steve CoppELL pulled a crumpled Chelsea teamsheet from his pocket and wearily muttered a mild expletive.

Holding the paper in his hand, Coppell said: "When I saw the names on the Chelsea subs bench I went 'Oh . . . '."

That's because Chelsea boss Ruud Gullit knew he could turn his famous trio of Italian internationals into spectators and still win in a canter.

Mark Hughes, Frank Leboeuf with a penalty and Graeme Le Saux struck the goals that gave Chelsea their fourth Premiership win in a row.

But so profligate were Chelsea in front of goal it was hard to understand how Gullit could leave Gianluca Vialli on his touchline seat throughout.

If only Palace, so limited in resources, could afford the pounds 1m a year wages of such a proven striker. He wouldn't a get a minute's rest in their colours.

Gullit wisely chose to rest Gianfranco Zola and Roberto Di Matteo after their tiring World Cup excursion to Georgia with Italy.

But his strange treatment of Vialli, his four-goal hero against Barnsley, verges on the unfair. Chelsea fans cheered him whenever he rose for a stretch.

Vialli's only on-field act was to throw his consoling arms around the shoulders of compatriot Attilio Lombardo at the end. It is not too fanciful to imagine Vialli devising a different embrace for Gullit with both hands around his neck.

Not that Chelsea's starting line-up really required any outside assistance to secure victory.

Coppell admitted: "We are in the same league as Chelsea, but it is a handicap competition. Their players earn a lot of money in wages and cost a fortune to assemble.

"But we'll hang in there. What can we do about it? I can't walk away again."

Mark Hughes, booked early for a reckless lunge at Lombardo, struck a masterful volley from Leboeuf's long ball to put Chelsea in front.

He then played a return ball into the path of Dan Petrescu who fell beneath the challenge of Andy Linighan and Andy Roberts when through on goal.

Leboeuf lashed in the penalty to assure Chelsea third place in a Premiership race they have the talent to win this season.

Gullit added: "I was pleased with our performance. We made a lot of chances and young lads like Mark Nicholls and Paul Hughes played as though they'd been in the team all the time.

"There's no such thing as one team. That way some players do not feel part of it."

Yet Chelsea cannot afford to be so wasteful in front of goal when meeting Slovan Bratislava in the European Cup Winners' Cup at Stamford Bridge on Thursday.

Palace keeper Kevin Miller was beaten out of sight by a Le Saux drive that crashed against the post and bounced across goal to safety.

Le Saux finally won his reward with another fierce shot that struck the post and rebounded this time into the net right at the finish.

He capered gleefully around the pitch. If only Gullit had given Vialli his deserved chance to do the same.

Copyright 1997 MGN LTD
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