Chelsea had wasted enough chances that when Eberechi Eze picked up possession 20 yards from goal in the 53rd minute, a feeling of inevitability fell over Stamford Bridge. The curler was out of Robert Sanchez’s reach and with that, they were stripped of the win.
For all the talent that has walked through the door at Chelsea, with Jadon Sancho the latest to arrive on loan from Manchester United, it is hard not to scrutinise who they did not secure. Namely the superstar striker they could not land in the summer, negotiations with Napoli’s Victor Osimhen breaking down on deadline day.
All fur coat. No knickers. Plenty of players. No assassin to make sure that when they are dominating a visiting team such as Crystal Palace, they put themselves out of reach.
Nicolas Jackson scored a tap-in to give them the lead but faced with two glorious chances in stoppage time, he took neither. Jackson is set to sign a new contract, boosting his stay by two years to 2033 as a reward for his progress after a positive first Premier League season.
He is a promising player but it is a big ask for him to take Chelsea to the next level, Champions League qualification being one of their quests this season.
There were nine deal sheets submitted to the Premier League prior to Friday’s 11pm deadline – the document required to give clubs two extra hours to complete paperwork – and Chelsea were involved in four of them. It turned into the late show as Raheem Sterling was loaned to Arsenal, Trevoh Chalobah to Crystal Palace and Armando Broja to Everton, while they finalised their own deal for Sancho. ‘Pass me the bloody wine,’ replied one source on WhatsApp at 1.18am on Saturday morning, summing up how stressful it had all been.
Sancho was a spectator here at Stamford Bridge, their new No 19 sitting next to Behdad Eghbali in the owners’ box. There was no new striker alongside them in the suave seats, Chelsea having failed to land Victor Osimhen from Napoli after long negotiations.
That has upped the pressure on Jackson. He scored 14 goals last term and started here with support from Cole Palmer playing centrally.
Palmer came close to opening the scoring when he picked up possession outside of the area, curling wide as Chelsea slowly but surely took charge of the contest.
Noni Madueke became a great source of creativity from Chelsea’s right-hand side, England’s newest call-up tormenting Will Hughes as if he had previously wronged him.
Madueke should have scored in the 22nd minute after breaking in behind, the ball trickling wide when the goal was gaping. In the 23rd, he thought he had made up for that miss by getting on the end of Enzo Fernandez’s cross, only for Dean Henderson to produce an extraordinary reaction save as he tipped over his volley.
Yet when Chelsea eventually did make it 1-0, Madueke was instrumental in kickstarting the move. He used his speed to skin Hughes before playing a pass in behind for Palmer, who then set up Jackson for the tap-in. Never one to shirk a chance to be cheeky, he celebrated in front of Palace’s supporters, who had been vocal from the get-go.
Enzo Maresca had watched back Palace’s two Premier League losses to Brentford and West Ham as part of his homework. His assessment was they did not deserve either defeat, which was relayed to Chelsea’s players as a reminder this would be no breeze.
Yet Palace had provided next to no threat at Stamford Bridge, Oliver Glasner often showing his frustration in the technical area. The closest the visitors had come to scoring was when Adam Wharton tamely tested Sanchez from 20 yards. Other than that, Eze had fired a 40-yard free-kick wide in first-half stoppage time.
At the start of the second half, Hughes did well to avoid a second yellow card after a cynical foul on Palmer central to goal. The 22-year-old, another inclusion in Lee Carsley’s England squad, took the free-kick himself to force Henderson into an acrobatic one-handed save. From the resulting corner, Levi Colwill’s header was pushed wide by Palace’s goalkeeper.
In the 50th minute, Glaser put Hughes out of his misery before another foul earned him a red, replacing him with Cheick Doucoure. The substitute was then involved in Palace equalising.
It began with Wharton driving into the box before feeding Doucoure. His shot was blocked, but Eze picked up possession 20 yards from goal. You knew what would happen next. He curled it, cool as you like, into the corner beyond Sanchez for 1-1.
Suddenly, the visitors were on top. Maresca reacted by bringing on Joao Felix in place of Neto, whose minutes are being managed after an injury-hit season with Wolves.
In the 63rd minute, Jackson committed a foul while contesting for a long ball but then proceeded to play on and score after everyone else had stopped. Referee Jarred Gillett decided he went too far, showing him a yellow.
Chelsea’s supporters began to show their frustration as Sanchez nearly fumbled a blast from Daichi Kamada into his own net. As eight minutes of stoppage time was announced, Jackson sent a shot into the side-netting, some of Stamford Bridge fooled into thinking it was in.
Seconds later, he was through again, but with only Henderson to beat, he could not do so as Nathaniel Clyne chased him from behind. Chelsea had the chances to win this clash, but lacked the striker to score the goals.
