Chelsea 0-0 Crystal Palace: Sluggish world champions underwhelm in Premier League return | OneFootball

Chelsea were held to a goalless draw by Crstal Palace after flattering to deceive throughout the entire match.

The FA Cup champions created the better of the opportunities from start to finish, and were unlucky that an Eberechi Eze free kick was ruled out with the help of VAR.

As for the holders of the Club World Cup, they struggled to create dangerous chances and largely limited themselves to the speculative.

As it happened

The world champions didn’t exactly burst into life in their first domestic match since dismantling PSG in New Jersey back in July. Far from it, in fact: throughout much of the first half, it was Crystal Palace who looked more likely to take the lead.

Eze, heavily linked with Spurs but still in the Palace squad today, made it clear he was in a goalscoring mood early on, first trying to lob Robert Sánchez from miles out with a shot which was skewed wide.

Then, he did put the ball in the back of the net after hammering a free kick past a hapless Sánchez, but it wouldn’t stand for long. Referee Darren England was sent to the VAR monitor to take a look at the positioning of Marc Guéhi. As it turned out, in his attempt to bundle Moisés Caicedo out of the firing line of Eze’s strike, he’d moved within a metre of the Chelsea wall. England promptly explained this to a cheering Stamford Bridge and a confused away end, with the goal officially ruled out.

Despite this incident going in their favour, The Blues just couldn’t fashion clear cut chances. They tried their luck, but largely from distance. Cole Palmer, Pedro Neto and Marc Cucurella all fired high and wide from distance. Only Trevoh Chalobah could get a shot away from a genuinely promising position, which he cannoned well over the crossbar, and even that was after a fortuitous bounce following a set piece.

Palace were tricky customers. They didn’t let Chelsea carve them open as easily as they managed against PSG in July, and in fact they’d create maybe the best chance of the half (besides the free kick) when Jean-Philippe Mateta, played in on goal by an excellent Adam Wharton ball, fired an effort a tad too centrally. Still, Sánchez did well to get down and make the save.

The teams went into the break level, the hosts in particular needing a spark.

That spark came 12 minutes into the second half in the form of Estêvão, who introduced himself to the Stamford Bridge faithful by immediately taking the ball past Guéhi – no mean feat – and sending a cross to the back post which totally deceived Dean Henderson. To his misfortune, the man he found was Pedro Neto who, far from renowned for his aerial prowess, couldn’t direct his header goalwards.

The 18-year-old Brazilian would then fashion the next big chance of the game, working his way into the box before snatching at his shot and firing it well over the crossbar. His next action, a thoroughly reckless challenge on Daniel Muñoz rewarded with a yellow card, served as a fitting reminder that he’s far from the finished product yet.

Despite his introduction, Palace still created the better of the chances. Mateta shrugged off the young Josh Acheampong – in the side thanks to injuries to both Levi Colwill and Tosin Adarabioyo – before volleying into the arms of a Sánchez whose positioning seemed just a little too advanced, and Eze would sting the Spaniard’s palms with a vicious strike from the edge of the area in the final 10 minutes.

He soon departed the field to a standing ovation from the visiting support, everyone acutely aware that that could’ve been his final action in a Crystal Palace shirt.

In the end, the game’s conclusion mirrored its beginning: goalless. Chelsea’s attacking intent was summed up in the 93rd minute, when Andrey Santos took a shot which looked more like a rugby conversion despite acres of space to each side of him.

They did have more efforts right at the end: Liam Delap hit a volley straight at Henderson, and the goalkeeper was called into action again when a Santos header looped up fairly awkwardly, but it was too little, too late.

The loss of Colwill was deeply felt: Acheampong did a good enough job in his absence, but Mateta was unlucky not to have scored come full time.

There’s still work to do for a Chelsea team with sights set on the table’s summit.

The lineups

CRY: Henderson; Richards, Lacroix, Guéhi; Muñoz, Wharton, Hughes, Mitchell; Sarr, Eze; Mateta