I'm genuinely at a loss to explain how we keep winning game after game after game without almost ever dominating or playing at our best. This time it was Palace's goal contentiously disallowed by VAR, a couple of good chances missed by them and us scoring with a mis-hit shot that bounced in after 2 deflections and off both posts and an even scrappier winning goal.
I remember my own sense of sheer annoyance at various Chelsea teams over the years stringing together fluky 1:0 or 2:1 wins with deflected goals, contentious penalties and the like often being the difference – or Fergie's United always seeming to conjure up a late winning goal even after playing like absolute crap for 85 minutes – and I can understand other fans' annoyance at our own recent run of results. We haven't kept a clean sheet in 10 games and haven't scored more than 3 in the league since the opening day – yet this objectively indifferent run of performances has resulted in a historically great run of results. Why?
There is a very good reason to your question, and it is the answer to why we can play so badly and yet win games. I think it all comes down to VVD as the single player that has transformed our back-line, he has the skills that match the leadership qualities he has - a complete defender if there ever was one. He organizes that defense so well that we can get away with losing control of the midfield, before we signed him I cannot remember a single defender we have had (in non-title winning era) other than Sami who has had command of the defense, but Sami lacked the pace and athleticism despite having the leadership qualities. You can argue all you like about the quality front three, but we have had world-class quality front men in abundance for the last 30 years - these three are not the first.
Also, luck has a lot to do with it, you cannot escape this, but I like to think that Klopp deserves it after having such bad luck in finals over the years, and even that last season at Dortmund - he seemed cursed with bad luck. That chance that was missed by Zaha today - after seeing it now on MOTD, all I can say is - that was luck or it was a case of great tactical know-how by our team because it fell to a player that is incapable of scoring from a chance like that. Take your pick.