Chelsea vs Crystal Palace Match Review and Player Ratings – Premier League 2025/26 | OneFootball

Chelsea vs Crystal Palace Match Review. Opening day in West London brought us a derby between two teams who are fresh off the back of winning silverware. Despite being the first game of the season, it was an important game for both sides, as World Champions Chelsea sought to prove a point against an eager Crystal Palace side that had just held Premier League champions Liverpool to a draw in the Community Shield, resulting in the former taking the trophy through a penalty shootout.

Chelsea were the favourites going into the match but were ultimately disappointed with star man Cole Palmer putting in a sub-par performance. Many were expecting the Blues to take home the three points, but an excellent defensive display from Oliver Glasner’s side denied them the win. Eberechi Eze even had the ball in the net from a free kick, but it was controversially disallowed by VAR, a decision that has sparked debate amongst fans. Despite having 19 shots, Chelsea did not have any particularly good chances aside from a late close-range effort from Andrey Santos, which was unbelievably blazed over the bar.

Chelsea vs Crystal Palace Match Review, Summary and Tactical Review

The game began in a quick fashion as a Marc Cucurella header following a corner was cleared off the line by Ismaïla Sarr. The Chelsea pressure was mounting until Cucurella gave a free kick away on the edge of the box in the 13th minute, resulting in a goal from Eze, which was eventually disallowed following an infringement from Guehi. Following the disallowed goal, Crystal Palace continued to press the rattled West Londoners, resulting in Mateta getting a good chance 19 minutes in, which was saved by Sanchez following some great play from Adam Wharton. Chalobah had the ball at his feet following a 30th-minute corner but managed to send it over the bar from a few yards out.

Glasner’s three-centre-back setup continued to be a thorn in Enzo Maresca’s side as the Italian’s Chelsea team failed to create any more substantial chances in the first half. Despite having his attack heavily bolstered this summer, Maresca’s front three of Pedro, Gittens and Neto just could not break down Palace’s defence. Not even Cole Palmer could come up with anything to save the situation. One of the most interesting battles of the first half was Mateta vs Acheampong, a physical matchup that resulted in a few clashes.

One of Chelsea’s best chances came when 18-year-old debutant Estêvão came on 53 minutes in and managed to dribble past two men before putting a cross to the back post, where Neto attempted to head the ball back into the box, but it was just too high for him. 66 minutes in, the Brazilian had another chance when he received the ball from Palmer in the box, but his first touch was too heavy and he sent it flying over the bar. Substitute Santos had the best chance of the game in the 93rd minute after he was given the ball by Cucurella, but he smashed it into row Z, summing up an underwhelming afternoon for Chelsea.

Chelsea’s second half looked much brighter than the first, especially after the introduction of new boy Estêvão. They created more chances in this half, and Ipswich Town acquisition Liam Delap mustered a shot on target, but it was not enough for more than a point. Glasner went into preservation mode in the late second half, as he brought on Lerma and let Chelsea control possession, pinning them to the wide positions so they could not feed any meaningful chances to Delap.

Chelsea Player Ratings

Robert Sanchez – 6/10: Did not have much to do, but did well when he was needed. Distribution was poor, though.

Reece James – 7/10: Captain’s performance, kept Eze quiet and his passing was pinpoint for the entire game. Marked down a bit due to his yellow card.

Trevoh Chalobah – 7/10: Was very good defensively against a physical and tall Mateta, passing was good but missed a big chance in the first half.

Josh Acheampong – 7/10: Partnered Chalobah very well and dealt with Mateta, progressed the ball well and won 11 duels. Lost the physical battle against Mateta a couple of times, which resulted in a Palace chance or two.

Marc Cucurella – 6/10: Nearly scored a header 3 minutes in but was rather quiet other than that. Made a couple of poor tackles, one resulting in the disallowed Eze free kick. Probably should have had an assist for Santos’ chance in stoppage time.

Enzo Fernandez – 4/10: Had absolutely no impact aside from one or two decent passes. Ran around a lot but ultimately was poor both defensively and on the attack.

Moises Caicedo – 8/10: Another unbelievable performance from Caicedo, made some very important tackles and kept his levels up for the whole 90 minutes. His alertness was probably the difference between the two sides and his battles with Wharton and Hughes were a good watch.

Cole Palmer – 5/10: A very disappointing show from Chelsea’s main man but he was doubled up for the entire game. Had little chance to make an impact but managed a couple of decent passes that could have become goals.

Jamie Gittens – 5/10: A poor performance from someone who seemed so bright in the recent friendly matches against Leverkusen and Milan. Tried taking his man on multiple times but Richards was on his game.

Pedro Neto – 7/10: Ran himself into the ground and found joy against Mitchell, completing the most dribbles in the match with three. Created two chances and continued his good run of form despite not producing a goal contribution.

João Pedro – 4/10: Highly disappointing, especially considering the heights he reached during his brief time at the Club World Cup in July. Had no impact on the game, did not create any chances and could not even manage a shot on target.

Liam Delap – 6/10: Did what he could with the little time he was on the pitch, managed a shot on target and his hold up and general physical play was very good.

Estêvão – 7/10: The brightest attacker on the pitch, made some very good runs and created a couple of chances. Should have buried the one shot he did have.

Andrey Santos – 5/10: Had very little time to do anything meaningful but managed a shot on target. Missed the best chance of the game and did not really do anything impactful when he had the ball.

Malo Gusto – 5/10: Like Santos and Delap, he came on very late in the game. Got involved in the attack but produced an awful shot in stoppage time when he had other, better options.

Crystal Palace Player Ratings

Dean Henderson – 6/10: Came up good when he was needed but had one or two shaky moments, made a couple of important saves.

Chris Richards – 7/10: Did well against Jamie Gittens when he was left exposed, won all of his duels and tackles.

Marc Guehi – 4/10: Ball playing was shaky and he got caught out a couple of times by Pedro Neto’s speed however Mitchell’s high positioning and poor defending did not exactly help him. Was also the reason Eze’s free kick got disallowed.

Maxence Lacroix – 7/10: Kept Pedro quiet and put in a good aerial display. Had to cover for Guehi a couple of times and did it well.

Tyrick Mitchell – 5/10: Played up high for most of the game, leaving Guehi to try to deal with Neto and his crossing was poor. Was also below par defensively, losing out to Neto and Estêvão on multiple occasions.

Daniel Muñoz – 5/10: Very quiet especially by his standards. Lost possession eleven times and could not do anything meaningful in attack. Was decent defensively against Gittens and Neto.

Adam Wharton – 6/10: Was involved in most of Palace’s brighter moments and could have had an assist for Mateta but did not create much as he migth have liked and lost possession 9 times. Lost the midfield battle against Caicedo.

Will Hughes – 5/10: Like Wharton, he was just okay. Only had 24 touches and could never really settle into the game, ended up getting booked unnecessarily.

Eberechi Eze – 7/10: Palace’s only real threat and managed two shots on target, with two successful dribbles. Caused problems for Reece James, getting him into the book and scored a great free kick which ended up being disallowed.

Ismaïla Sarr – 6/10: Never really got into the game as much as he normally would, did not managed to get any shots off but did pull off a crucial goal line clearance in the first few minutes of the game.

Jean-Philippe Mateta – 4/10: Won one or two duels against Acheampong but was very underwhelming by his standards. Should have done better with the chances he got and was poor in his duels. Contributed nothing to Palace’s attack.

Jefferson Lerma – 5/10: Spent his short time on the pitch wandering around doing nothing. Was brought on late in the game but still had no sense of urgency and despite being fresh legs did not bring anything to Palace’s efforts.

Justin Devenny – 6/10: Brought on far too late to have any impact, only had three touches.

LONDON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 17: Cole Palmer of Chelsea is challenged by Chris Richards of Crystal Palace during the Premier League match between Chelsea and Crystal Palace at Stamford Bridge on August 17, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

Man of the Match and Final Thoughts

There was a couple of contenders for man of the match, but we are giving it to Moises Caicedo. He put on an imperious midfield display and compensated well for Fernandez’ poor game. Honourable mentions are Reece James and Eze.

Chelsea and Maresca should learn a lot from this game, particularly that despite having an atacking overhaul in the summer, it does not seem that they have the final pieces of the puzzle yet. Perhaps Alejandro Garnacho and Xavi Simons can be these missing pieces, but it remains to be seen whether Chelsea can get these deals over the line. Maresca may have also realised that maybe there is an internal solution to Colwill’s ACL injury in Josh Acheampong, with Wesley Fofana also returning from injury and Tosin expected to be available on Friday. The Blues will go into the West Ham game knowing they need a win now.

As for Glasner’s Crystal Palace, they seemingly need to prepare for life without Eze and with him being their standout player yesterday, that may prove difficult. They can draw some positives from the game though, a great defensive display was crucial to them taking a point home and Henderson, Lacroix and Richards’ respective performances were all central to keeping Chelsea’s dynamic attack quiet. This match and the recent Community Shield game show that they can go toe to toe with the big teams, but the question is: can they do it without Eze and Guehi? They will certainly have a point to prove against Nottingham Forest.