Chelsea player ratings vs Crystal Palace: Josh Acheampong steps up as Joao Pedro endures quiet debut | OneFootball

The youngster impressed in the absence of Levi Colwill and Tosin Adarabioyo

Your matchday briefing on Chelsea, featuring team news and expert analysis from Malik Ouzia

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Chelsea were held to a hugely frustrating goalless draw at home to Crystal Palace on the opening day of the season.

The sun was shining throughout Sunday afternoon’s match at Stamford Bridge, but Chelsea’s players were unable to shine as brightly as they did when crowned Club World Cup champions earlier this summer.

Eberechi Eze’s disallowed free-kick goal was a warning to them early in the first half, and it was Chelsea who dominated proceedings, but they allowed Palace to frustrated and limit them as their season began with two points dropped.

Dom Smith was at Stamford Bridge to rate the Chelsea players’ performances…

Robert Sanchez 7

Fortunate that Eze’s free-kick was disallowed, but responded well, using his feet to good effect and making an important save from Jean-Philippe Mateta.

Reece James 6

Dealt well with Eberechi Eze at times but played on a yellow card for a lot of the game and in the end had to be brought off.

Trevoh Chalobah 7

Defended well and was good on the ball but missed a presentable opportunity when he blazed over from close range in the first half.

Josh Acheampong 7

The teenager stepped up to the mantle really well in the absence of injured Tosin Adarabioyo and Levi Colwill. Put in a couple of fantastic challenges.

Marc Cucurella 6

Good performance from the Spaniard, without being spectacular. Broke into midfield when Chelsea had the ball (which was a fair amount).

Moises Caicedo 7

Put in plenty of tackles and got his toe to plenty (nothing changes). Very rarely let passes through midfield without intercepting them.

Enzo Fernandez 7

Put in a really industrious performance, getting across the pitch tirelessly on a warm Sunday afternoon in which Chelsea had things far from all their own way.

Pedro Neto 6

His effort can’t be faulted, but it didn’t quite happen for the Portuguese, who started on the right but switched to the left after Jamie Gittens made way for Estevao.

Cole Palmer 6

Often sees plenty of the ball for the Blues that wasn’t the case here on a testing afternoon for Chelsea. Still, did nothing wrong.

Jamie Gittens 6

Palace did well to limit the space available to Gittens, but he still had a few chances to show what he is about as a new signing.

Joao Pedro 5

Fellow new recruit Joao Pedro was frustrated by centre-backs Marc Guehi and Chris Richards for long periods but made all the right runs.

Subs

Estevao (Gittens, 54’) 8

An excellent competitive debut for the 18-year-old who beat his man on the wing and tracked back to make important tackles too. Could even have scored, but shot over.

Liam Delap (Joao Pedro, 73’) 6

Worked hard when brought on and had one chance, swivvelling and volleying but not producing enough power to beat Dean Henderson.

Andrey Santos (Enzo Fernandez, 78’) N/A

Malo Gusto (James, 78’) N/A

Not used: Jorgensen, Essugo, Hato, Fofana, George