Crystal Palace defender Joel Ward is taking the positives from Sunday's 1-0 defeat to the new Premier League champions Chelsea.

Alan Pardew’s side now find themselves on their worst league run all season – three defeats in a row – after losses at home against West Bromwich Albion and Hull City, and now at Chelsea.

Pardew was keen to experiment with his side after confirming league safety three weeks ago, but it has backfired as a 2-0 reverse against WBA managed by former manager Tony Pulis and then another 2-0 defeat against a former Palace boss - Steve Bruce and Hull City.

Full-back Ward missed the Hull game through a shin injury - his first sicknote of the season - with Pardew later admitting that the “important” Hampshire-born defender was a big loss.

Ward said: “It was gutting to miss the game. I am the type of lad that wants to play every minute of every game but I just couldn’t play through it.

“It was too sore and it’s just one of those things - it’s part of football.”

Ward returned to the team on Sunday, but could not prevent Jose Mourinho winning a third Premier League crown, although the defender was happy with the Eagles’ performance following their two previous under-par league showings.

"We came here to get maximum points and gave a good account of ourselves,” said the 25-year-old.

“Our performance was leaps [and bounds] above our last couple of performances - we can build and take the positives from this game, move on and keep on pushing on.

“Chelsea got the job done - they fully deserved the title this year and you’ve got to give them credit - they’re champions for a reason; they’ve been fantastic all season.”

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Picture gallery from Chelsea 1-0 Crystal Palace

Despite the celebratory atmosphere around Stamford Bridge, the game was anything but exhilarating as both sides failed to create clear chances and the Eagles were disappointed not to leave with a point.

A controversial penalty was given to the home side in first half additional time after Eden Hazard was adjudged to have been tripped in the box by a combination of James McArthur and Adrian Mariappa.

The PFA Player of the Year saw his very weak penalty saved by Julian Speroni but the ball fell to the Belgian who headed home from close range.

“I haven’t seen the penalty again, and can’t comment,” said Ward immediately after the game.

“I’ve heard mixed things about it and maybe it wasn’t a penalty - it’s a bit gutting to concede the way we did but we’ll move on from it and look forward to Man United.”

Next up for Ward is the penultimate home game at Selhurst Park - a visit from Manchester United next Saturday under the lights and in front of the TV cameras.

Ward is relishing the prospect, not least to put an end to the poor run of results and to provide the fans with something to cheer about.

“It’s a great occasion and we’ve got more than enough about us to upset them,” said the former Portsmouth player.

“Our aim is always to finish as high as we can so we’ll always do that. We won’t sit back on what we’ve got, we want to keep pushing forward and keep on looking forward to the guys above us.

“The fans are a huge part of that and they’ve been fantastic all season home and away - for the last two seasons.

“You can’t take that away from them - they’ve been absolutely outstanding and give us a lift every week.”