Chelsea next five fixtures compared to Man United, Newcastle and Tottenham in race for Europe

Chelsea's up and down season continued on Wednesday as Mauricio Pochettino's men claimed a vital three points at Stamford Bridge, defeating Crystal Palace 2-1 thanks to a late Noni Madueke penalty. The result only lifts the Blues into the top half on goal difference, and even that may well be temporary.

However, ahead of what is a kind run of fixtures Chelsea find themselves just two points from Brighton in ninth place — though the Seagulls have a game in hand, taking on Tottenham on Thursday night — as well as Newcastle four ahead in eighth. The issue is that to significantly make a threat on closing the gap above them Chelsea will need to become more consistent.

It was perhaps a good sign before the game that only four times in all competitions had Chelsea recorded the same result twice in a row. In effect the Blues really are more likely to win the game after they lose and vice versa. Climbing up the table will mean finding a new side to their game in the coming months though.

For Pochettino the three points will ease the pressure on his job slightly once morebut hardly answered all the questions being thrown at him. Against Palace he went with the youngest side named by the club ever in a Premier League game and was just about rewarded.The 51-year-old will know that bigger and better things are needed to silence the critics though.

Here, football.london takes a look at the chances Pochettino will have to pick up more points in the coming weeks. Up next, a trip to Kenilworth Road.

Every team's fans are convinced that going away to Luton is the most obvious banana skin and that the footballing Gods will conspire against them to ensure a historic but humiliating defeat. You can already see the transfer spend comparison