2. Pardew Got His Tactics All Wrong
When your attacking options are so depleted don't try and go toe-to-toe with a team like Chelsea. I have no doubt that had Palace been able to call on Yannick Bolasie, Connor Wickham and Yohan Cabaye they would have been able to give Chelsea a much sterner task but they weren't available so Pardew needed to adjust accordingly. Palace's defensive record had been excellent until this game so they should have concentrated on shutting Chelsea out for as long as possible, frustrating a side with fragile confidence. Instead, they tried to match them and left gaps all over the park. Willian and Pedro found themselves running at the Palace back four on a number of occasions while Cesc Fabregas and Oscar were able to move between the lines and cause chaos. When you don't have your best players available it's unreasonable to expect the replacements to be able to play the same way. A compact, annoying, bitty performance aimed at frustrating Chelsea would have been more effective than relying on out-of-form or incapable players to perform in the same way.