Chelsea begin their Premier League campaign at Stamford Bridge.placeholder image
Chelsea begin their Premier League campaign at Stamford Bridge. | Getty Images
Enzo Maresca's Chelsea side begin the Premier League season by sharing a point with Crystal Palace.
Chelsea had to settle for a point in their opening fixture of the Premier League season against an organised Crystal Palace side at Stamford Bridge.
It was the Eagles who came the closest to finding a winning goal in the game with an Eberechi Eze free-kick chalked off by VAR in the first-half due to Marc Guehi interfering with play. Both sides lacked any real goal threat, despite late Blues pressure, in a close fought affair between the London rivals.
There were first top flight outings in Chelsea colours for Joao Pedro, Liam Delap, Andrey Santos, Jamie Gittens and Willian Estevao. Here’s how the Chelsea players rated.
Chelsea player ratings v Crystal Palace
GK: Robert Sanchez, 7
A clean sheet but would have had questions asked if the Eze free-kick had stood. The Crystal Palace star really leathered it but the Chelsea goalkeeper did not look convincing in that moment. Some questionable distribution too.
LB: Reece James, 7
Never looked fully comfortable against Eze and could have found more forward threat, but did his job today.
CB: Josh Acheampong, 7
Looked accomplished despite being just 19 years old. If a mistake was going to come, it would have been him with a couple hair-raising moments when losing possession or misplacing a pass, but the teenager can hold his head high.
CB: Trevoh Chalobah, 8
Impressive showing. Very comfortable in his defensive work and showed an eagerness to carry the ball forwards and pick out some dangerous forward passes.
RB: Marc Cucurella, 8
A terrier. Some of the best forward runs of the day were made by the full-back but when unnoticed. Diligent in his defensive work, often stealing the ball back.
CDM: Moises Caicedo, 8
His usual self, seeing plenty of the ball and keeping things ticking in the centre of the park. Looked comfortable against the Crystal Palace threat thrown at him.
CDM: Enzo Fernandez, 6
Struggled to find a huge influence on play in the more advanced role of the defensive midfielders. Neat when the ball did come to his feet.
RW: Pedro Neto, 7
Reliable on the flank. Had the composure on the ball to make sure he did the right thing and got some dangerous balls into the box. Needs to find a goal threat himself.
CAM: Cole Palmer, 5
It seems impossible to call Cole Palmer a passenger, but that was what he was at times for Chelsea today. The Blues needed a moment of inspiration and so often the England international provides it, but didn’t come close this afternoon.
Chelsea £60m signing struggles for impact
LW: Jamie Gittens, 7
Enjoyed a really, really bright opening few minutes to the game. His first touch looked to add pace to the ball and drive Chelsea forwards and he showcased physicality to outleap Chris Richards, as well as a pace and diligence to track back. Did fade after that before coming off early in the second half.
ST: Joao Pedro, 6
Lacked impact in his first Premier League outing for Chelsea. Had little time to get running at the Crystal Palace defence and didn’t offer a huge physical presence as a target man. The striker has goals in him but more to come here.
SUB: Willian Estevao, 8
A very lively little cameo from the youngster. Crystal Palace never looked confident dealing with his pace and desire to impact the game. Did blast over from a decent opportunity having done well to get himself on the loose ball and saw yellow for taking down Daniel Munoz.
SUB: Liam Delap, 8
Chelsea had more goal threat with Delap on the pitch. Able to better play a role as a target man, to the cheers of the Stamford Bridge crowd, but could only manage a tame shot at Dean Henderson when the ball fell to him late on.
SUB: Andrey Santos, 6
Got stuck in at central midfield, both winning and giving away free kicks. Completely fluffed a really good shot in injury time.
SUB: Malo Gusto, 6
Came on to shut up shop at right-back and did that, but frustratingly ended a good Chelsea move late on by blasting well over the bar.
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