PL2: Younger brother of former Super Eagles invitee marks return from injury with a goal for Chelsea

Richard Olise, younger brother of former Super Eagles invitee and onetime Nigeria Football Federation target Michael Olise, was among the scorers as Chelsea defeated Crystal Palace 4-2 in their last Premier League 2 fixture of the 2024-2025 season.

Olise wasn't the only player of Nigerian descent on target in the London derby as 2023 Flying Eagles invitee Ademola Ola-Adebomi and Franco Umeh-Chibueze also got on the scoresheet for Crystal Palace in the second half. 

Before the trip to Sutton United's VBS Community Stadium, Olise had missed seven consecutive Premier League 2 matches for the Blues due to an injury. 

Chelsea led 1-0 at the break courtesy of Genesis Antwi's opener in the eighteenth minute.

Nineteen minutes into the second half,  the Eagles equalized when Ola-Adebomi's strike took a wicked deflection off a Chelsea defender, looping over goalkeeper Ted Curd’s outstretched hand.

Donnell McNeilly scored to restore Chelsea's one-goal advantage in the 70th minute and Ronnie Stutter added a third five minutes later.

In the fourth minute of stoppage time, Olise, who came off the bench in the 79th minute, drove forward, shrugged of his marker and guided a composed finish into the bottom corner to seal the win for Chelsea. 

Umeh-Chibueze pulled one back for Crystal Palace deep into stoppage time, but the Irish-Nigerian forward's effort came too late to inspire a turnaround.

While Chelsea finished third in the regular season, Crystal Palace also qualified for the playoff phase courtesy of their sixth place finish.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel 

Photo Credit: chelseafc.com

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