Conor Gallagher scored twice on Monday to hand his old team, Crystal Palace, a crushing 3-1 loss and keep Chelsea's hopes of playing in Europe next year alive.

With a long-range goal from Jefferson Lerma to open the scoring, the injured Eagles were on their way to a decisive victory in their struggle to stay in the Premier League. Gallagher's equalizer two minutes into the second half undid Palace, who have only triumphed three times in 19 outings.

Chelsea moved up to 10th place and within two points of seventh place when Gallagher scored his second goal of the game and Enzo Fernandez added the third in stoppage time.

Palace's loss keeps them in 15th place, five points above the relegation zone. 

"It was extremely cruel but the game is about goals and unfortunately we made mistakes which led to goals," said under fire Palace boss Roy Hodgson.

The home side were decimated by key injuries with all three of their star players Eberechi Eze, Michael Olise and Marc Guehi ruled out.