Christensen lauds Ziyech significance after Chelsea's difficult win

Andreas Christensen praised his teammate Hakim Ziyech following the winger's game-winning goal in Chelsea's triumph over Crystal Palace. 

After having an earlier finish called down for offside, Ziyech rose up in the 89th minute at Selhurst Park on Saturday to sneak past Vicente Guaita's feet. 

Chelsea maintained their hot streak after winning the Club World Cup, and the Moroccan international now has three goals in as many

games, putting them in the third position with 50 points, seven points behind second-placed Liverpool.

After another win for the Blues, the central defender  Christensen feels the former Ajax player is deserving his recent goal-scoring form. 

"He deserves it," Christensen stated, according to Chelsea's official website. " He works hard. I felt a little bit for him when the first goal got taken away, and you wonder if it's going to happen, but he deserves it.

"He's very important for us especially when he scores our goals.

"At the moment we're fighting, we're scraping points, and sometimes you need that.

"We prepare well game to game, it's a little bit mentally draining, but we recover as quickly as possible. Everyone has their heads on right.

"We are still in every tournament possible so there are a lot of games. I think we're doing a good job."

Only Mason Mount (2.51) and Ross Barkley (3.57) have produced more opportunities per 90 minutes for Chelsea this season than Ziyech (2.41).

Similarly, Ziyech scores 0.35 goals per 90 minutes, with only Romelu Lukaku (0.45) and Timo Werner (0.46) ranking higher among Blues players in that category. 

In all competitions, Werner (194.3) and Lukaku (198.1) are ahead of Ziyech in terms of minutes per goal, with the 28-year-old striking every 256 minutes. 

Thomas Tuchel will be hopeful that his dynamic winger can continue his excellent form in Tuesday's opening leg of their

last-16 tie against Lille.

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