Chelsea - 4 Crystal Palace - 1: Iain Dowie must ride the punches. The manager whose neck is as thick as a heavyweight champion's often pitches his players into the boxing ring as part of Crystal Palace's unique training regime. He will need them now to draw on every last ounce of inner resilience as the Premiership season reaches its final rounds.

Trips to Arsenal and Chelsea and the inevitable disastrous results could have knocked the wind out of Palace's battle to avoid relegation. Nine goals have been conceded in those two most recent away matches but Dowie's famous positive mental attitude demands that he does not lie down.

"The top three are all very good sides," he said. "We didn't hold Arsenal at Highbury and Chelsea can grind out results if they have to and they can also play flamboyant football. They've got lots of strengths. But we've got to look forward, not back. We're still two points outside the relegation zone and we'll crack on from there."

His defiance is not delusional. After all, a 0-0 draw with Manchester United and a 2-0 win over Birmingham, both at Selhurst Park, punctuated those two results. With two of the three teams below Palace still to travel to south London, Dowie has cause for cautious optimism.

"We know the other clubs near the bottom are starting to win games but we're not looking over our shoulder and we must concentrate on our own results and not worry about the others," he said.

Only a moment of disbelief in the usually unerring Andy Johnson in first-half stoppage-time prevented Palace from taking the lead; he shot wide of an almost open goal. But it is Dowie's faith in the 24-year-old which makes him believe Palace will pull clear.

"The one thing we have which the others don't is Andy Johnson," he said. "He's a quality player who will definitely get even more goals between now and the end of the season, and those goals will prove vital."

Dowie introduced the striker Dougie Freedman for the injured but otherwise excellent centre-half Gonzalo Sorondo in an attempt to chase a point.

But within minutes the game was lost as Chelsea, for whom the substitute Arjen Robben made his first appearance for six weeks, benefited when the Palace goalkeeper Gabor Kiraly let in Mateja Kezman's speculative drive from 20 yards.

This was not a vintage Chelsea performance but there was more adventure to their approach. Jose Mourinho, who holds defensive efficiency in the highest regard, may scowl that Aki Riihilahti's stab was the eighth goal his side have conceded in the past seven matches but the more expansive tone to this match, with Joe Cole again highly impressive, should be applauded.

"I felt we could have done more; we should have scored more goals and had the game won earlier," said Cole. "But credit to Crystal Palace. I'd like to see them stay up; they are probably the best of the four teams down there."

Cole's chances of earning an England place have been enhanced by his commanding recent displays, and his goal here, a dash and sweeping shot from the edge of the area, was again a compelling statement.

"I can definitely play on the left of the four for England, especially in the next games. They (Northern Ireland and Azerbaijan) are going to come and defend deep and we are going to have to attack and score goals," he said.

For once, Mourinho may be grateful for the international break. The Portuguese manager has an avowed aversion to seeing his players depart to represent their countries but, with the Premier League investigation into the meeting between Chelsea officials and Arsenal's Ashley Cole set to be concluded this week and a Uefa hearing into incidents during the Champions League match in Barcelona on Thursday, the time to deal with such distractions will be welcome.