Eze strike ruled out by VAR as Palace hold Chelsea

Eberechi Eze was denied a brilliant free-kick goal and potential fairytale ending in what could be his final appearance for Crystal Palace in the goalless Premier League draw at Chelsea.

The midfielder, 27, was a doubt for selection amid ongoing talks with Tottenham, but started for the visitors at Stamford Bridge and powered home a free-kick from 20 yards in the 13th minute.

However, the strike was ruled out by referee Darren England after a VAR check because Palace defender Marc Guehi - also linked with a move away to Liverpool - was within one metre of Chelsea's wall when the free-kick was taken.

The rule, which has been in place since 2019, is rarely applied but cost Palace, who missed further chances through striker Jean-Philippe Mateta and Maxence Lacroix, and were the better team earlier on.

Chelsea celebrated becoming world champions over the summer before kick-off but delivered a flat first-half display. Their best chances fell to substitute debutants Estevao Willian, Liam Delap and Andrey Santos after the break.

It was just 35 days since Chelsea won the Club World Cup final against Paris St-Germain in New Jersey, which shortened their pre-season preparation to just 13 days.

Five players made league debuts for the Blues on Sunday - Estevao, Delap, Santos, Joao Pedro and Jamie Gittens - after another busy summer of business at Stamford Bridge.

By contrast, Palace started their own pre-season a day before Chelsea's 2024-25 campaign had even finished. The final two weeks of the window could be crucial for the Eagles with two of their star players potentially leaving the club.

Chelsea analysis: £250m attack misfires

Chelsea started this match with new signing Joao Pedro up front, Cole Palmer playing in behind, Gittens on the left and Pedro Neto on the right - and another creative influence, Enzo Fernandez, in midfield.

However, they struggled to create anything before the break and could well have been behind.

In the second half, two other new attackers - Estevao and Delap - came off the bench when the hosts were pushing for a winner and Palace appeared willing to settle for a point away at a 'big-six' opponent.

The six attackers mentioned above cost Chelsea close to £250m in total - not including the £107m for midfielder Fernandez - so fans would no doubt expect the Blues to create plenty of chances.

But they mustered just three shots on target on Sunday - one fewer than Palace - and could have done with someone like former winger Eden Hazard, who was watching on in the stands.

Chelsea will feel their attack will start firing soon, but perhaps their short pre-season and addition of so many new players, once again, takes time to gel.

This was a missed opportunity for the Blues who were in celebration mode before kick-off, which helped create one of the loudest atmospheres at Stamford Bridge since the Covid-19 pandemic.

Yet the positive feelings from winning the Club World Cup and Conference League could not be translated into a statement display on the field. However, goodwill among their fanbase is still alive despite this opening stalemate.

Palace analysis: Last hurrah for this great team?

The biggest challenge for Crystal Palace is to keep this fantastic team together.

Manager Oliver Glasner picked the same starting XI in the FA Cup final win against Manchester City in May and again in last weekend's Community Shield victory over Liverpool.

There was one change against Chelsea as midfielder Daichi Kamada was replaced by Will Hughes, with the Japanese having picked up an injury in the Wembley shootout win over the Reds.

Glasner clearly knows his best team, but has complained in recent news conferences about a lack of depth - and lack of new players coming in.

For now, Palace remain a strong side, as they showed in this impressive display, but they are likely to get weaker before they can reinforce their ranks.

Spurs are in talks to sign star attacker Eze and Liverpool have held discussions over Guehi, who is in the final year of his contract.

There was also a £35m bid from Atalanta for striker Mateta earlier in the summer while there are reports Manchester United are interested in signing Adam Wharton next year.

This Palace team, which won the club's first major trophy and secured European qualification for the first time in history last season, is potentially about to be picked apart by richer rivals.

That fact was not lost on the away support at Stamford Bridge, who were heard chanting against former owner John Textor and Nottingham Forest's Evangelos Marinakis, having been demoted from the Europa League to the Conference League because of multi-club ownership rules.

Having been on the wrong side of the European courts in that case, it is no wonder the away end were chanting "it's not football any more" after they were denied a moment of celebration by VAR when Eze's strike was chalked off.