Crystal Palace play spoilers yet again, holding Chelsea to a 0-0 draw
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Crystal Palace's English midfielder Eberechi Eze running with the ball during the 0-0 English Premier League draw with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in London on Aug 17, 2025.
PHOTO: AFP
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LONDON – A week after playing party poopers to Liverpool in the Community Shield, Crystal Palace proved a pain to another of the English Premier League’s big boys, holding Chelsea to a 0-0 draw at Stamford Bridge on Aug 17.
Much of the focus coming into the match surrounded the future of Palace’s coveted jewels, with Eberechi Eze pursued by Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal, Adam Wharton drawing interest from Real Madrid and Manchester United, and Marc Guehi attracting admiring glances from the Reds.
All three started the game, with their manager Oliver Glasner hoping that it will not be the last time that happens, with around two weeks till the closure of the transfer window.
Glasner told Sky Sports: “There are a lot of rumours about Eberechi Eze and Marc Guehi, but they were 100 per cent with this group in Crystal Palace and they have proved that in a big way.
“Eb should have scored a goal today – he had one and it was disallowed.
“He will come tomorrow to the Crystal Palace training ground, Tuesday off, we take Wednesday and I expect him to be back playing for us against Fredrikstad (in a Conference League play-off on Aug 21).”
The Blues had the game’s first chance, with Ismaila Sarr clearing Marc Cucurella’s header off the line from a Chelsea corner.
On 13 minutes, Eze had the ball in the net after sending a powerful free kick past Robert Sanchez in the Chelsea goal.
But after a video assistant referee (VAR) review, it was chalked off as Guehi was deemed to be “less than one metre away from the wall as the shot is taken”.
Palace centre-back Chris Richards told Sky Sports: “Everyone in the stadium thought it was a goal, but you live and die by VAR and today we died from it. It was a good free kick and hopefully we get more of them.”
Six minutes later, lovely skills by Wharton fashioned another good chance for the Eagles. He executed a neat spin after receiving the ball and played a one-two before threading a through-pass for Jean-Philippe Mateta, whose shot was saved by Sanchez.
Hoping to inject some pep into his side, Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca brought on Estevao Willian early in the second half for fellow new signing Jamie Gittens.
Three minutes after his arrival, Estevao made an impact, getting past Guehi and sending a cross that reached Pedro Neto, but he could not fashion a chance out of it.
Estevao, considered the Selecao’s next big thing, is the third-youngest Brazilian player to appear in the Premier League at 18 years and 115 days, after Rafael in 2008 (18 years, 39 days) and Gabriel Martinelli in 2019 (18 years, 54 days).
On 66 minutes, Estevao had a chance of his own. The ball dropped to him inside the box, but he blazed his shot well over.
The Brazilian seemed to be involved in everything, earning himself a caution for a sliding tactical foul to prevent Daniel Munoz from launching a Palace counter-attack in the 75th minute.
In a second half of few chances, Mateta tested Sanchez with a volley from range in the 77th minute, but it was routinely dealt with.
Sanchez was called into action again in the 82nd minute to palm away a powerful Eze shot from outside the box, although perhaps the England attacker might have been better off releasing a rampaging Tyrick Mitchell on the overlap.
The late chances, however, fell to Chelsea.
On 90 minutes, Maxence Lacroix’s poor header offered another Chelsea new boy, Liam Delap, a sniff of goal in the box, but the previously untroubled Dean Henderson was equal to his effort.
Three minutes later, the Blues fashioned their best chance of the match.
Delap played a first-time pass to Cucurella on the left, whose well-placed low cross found Andrey Santos in the box, but the substitute got under the shot and sent it well over.
All in all, it was a reminder that while the newly minted Club World Cup winners might have a world champions badge on their chest, Chelsea might still not be ready to have a tilt at becoming champions of England.
On their short pre-season owing to their Club World Cup exertions, which ended on July 13, Sanchez admitted: “It was easy to come back but we feel the fatigue that we didn’t have a long time to recover. But it is football and you just have to take care of your body and not do too much.”
