Chelsea Held To Draw By Palace As Eze Scores Equalizer

Eberechi Eze scored a superb equaliser as Crystal Palace drew with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

The Blues, who thrashed Wolves 6-2 last week, were the better side in the first half, with Cole Palmer firing just wide and Dean Henderson saving superbly from Noni Madueke before Nicolas Jackson broke the deadlock.

The forward finished off a fast counter by Chelsea, tapping in Palmer’s cross at the near post.

Palace were fortunate not to be reduced to 10 men when Will Hughes, on a booking, escaped punishment for a foul on Palmer.

And the Eagles were celebrating soon after when Eze curled a fine strike beyond Robert Sanchez in the Chelsea goal.

Sanchez did superbly to push away Daichi Kamada’s stinging drive and prevent Palace taking the lead, but Jackson could have won it in stoppage time for Chelsea after going through on goal, but his shot was saved by Henderson.

The draw got Crystal Palace up and running for the season after back-to-back losses, while Chelsea have four points from their three games so far.

A summer of change but familiar frustration for Chelsea
It has been another summer of upheaval at Chelsea, with more than £200m spent and 13 players arriving and 37 departing – either on loan or permanently.

But the transfer window closing on Friday means the Blues can finally focus solely on football.

Their final summer signing – England forward Jadon Sancho – was shown off to fans before kick-off but just one of their new arrivals started against Palace, with ex-Wolves man Pedro Neto in the line-up.

Initially it looked like the Blues would follow up the big win against Wolves with another comfortable victory, but a mixture of poor finishing and fine saves by Henderson meant they just had Jackson’s goal – his second of the new campaign – to show for their first-half dominance.

Chelsea were guilty of missing a number of chances last season and that was once again their downfall in this game, with Jackson twice having chances late on to seal the victory, but he put his first into the side-netting, before being denied by Henderson one-on-one.

The result means that despite the encouraging big win at Wolves, they are still searching for a first home win of 2024-25.

Eze the difference again
Eze and Michael Olise were excellent for Crystal Palace last season, with the latter’s form earning him a big summer move to Bayern Munich.

But Eze has picked up right where he left off as he once again proved the difference-maker for Palace against Chelsea.

Palace created few chances at Stamford Bridge but Eze took his superbly, curling the ball out of Sanchez’s reach.

His goal shifted the momentum in Palace’s favour, with Eze at the heart of all their best play.

Palace had their chances to grab a winner but ultimately a point against a team they normally struggle against – they had lost their last 13 encounters with them – provides a platform to build on.

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