Palace impress for Chelsea stalemate as Eze and Guehi feature

Crystal Palace's Eberechi Eze, left and Chelsea's Moises Caicedo fight for the ball

There was nothing to separate Chelsea and Crystal Palace in the first London derby of the new Premier League (PL) season, with a goalless draw extending the Blues’ unbeaten H2H run to 17 games (W14, D3) dating back to 2017.

- Chelsea have kept a clean sheet in each of their last three games in the Premier League, a run of 321 minutes without conceding a goal

- Estevao is the 16th Brazilian player to appear for Chelsea in the Premier League, now the outright most for any team (overtaking Man City's 15)

- Crystal Palace are undefeated in their last seven games in the Premier League, their last joint-longest unbeaten streak was from April 14th, 2024 to May 19th, 2024

After a successful summer in which both sides lifted silverware, there was an air of positivity at Stamford Bridge, leading to an energetic start to the contest.

Heavily linked with a move away, Eberechi Eze thought he’d fired Palace into an early lead with a rocket of a free-kick, but an on-field VAR review determined that another potential departing star, captain Marc Gu9hi, was too close to the Chelsea wall at the moment of the strike.

The game’s tempo gradually dipped as the first half wore on, with a wild Trevoh Chalobah snapshot from close range as close as either team came to breaking the first-half deadlock thereafter.

Palace have proven they can mix it with the best, having defeated Manchester City to win the FA Cup and edging past Liverpool in the Community Shield last weekend, and they were once again proving a tough nut to crack here.

Match stats

A large cheer greeted debutant EstAv3o as he entered the fray looking to make a difference ahead of the hour mark, and he instantly injected some life into the Blues’ attack.

Nonetheless, the hosts struggled to carve out clear-cut chances, with the game remaining firmly in the balance heading into the final stages.

Substitutes Liam Delap and Andrey Santos threatened late on, but ultimately the FIFA Club World Cup champions were unable to breach a resolute Eagles rearguard, meaning they were forced to settle for a point to kick off their domestic campaign.

Avoiding defeat for what would have been a fourth time in five season-opening PL encounters will no doubt please Palace fans, who can turn their attention towards a UEFA Conference League play-off against Fredrikstad FK on Thursday.

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