Crystal Palace looked to redeem their poor starting form in the premier league against
Chelsea hosted Crystal Palace at The Bridge this afternoon with Palace looking to pick up their first points of the season to redeem their poor form in their first two games. Following Chelsea's shock 6-2 win against Wolves, the Blues were firm favourites to come out on top. Coming from managing freshly promoted side Leicester City, newly appointed Enzo Maresca made a 9 man change to the starting line-up against Swiss side Servette in the UEFA Conference League Play-offs. Crystal Palace presented a 3-4-2-1 formation with a strong attackers and a physical midfield looking to find the flaws in Chelsea's unorganised defence.
Pedro Neto made his first start for his new club and was awarded a yellow card in the 8th minute for a bad foul on Munoz over a tussel for the ball. The next card for the home side went to Fofana, booked in the 32nd minute, for a dangerous foul while Palace's Kamada gets off lightly with a just a talking to from the referee following a successive trio of fouls. First half brought an N. Jackson goal for Chelsea in the 25th minute after a dominating start for the home team with the Palace keeper requiring brief medical attention after a nasty landing attempting the save. The rest of the half was all Chelsea traffic with the Blues looking likely to score again. Many good chances created by Madueke who scored his first hattrick for the club against Wolves.
After struggling to find momentum in the first half, it seemed a whole new team had emerged after the break with Eze leading the Eagles to create chances. An early second half goal came smoothly for Palace with an Eze goal and looked hungry for more. Finding flaws in the Blues defence, Palace showed dominance. Jackson picked up a silly yellow for obstructing play by scoring an open net after the whistle had been blown causing more frustration for Chelsea, who should have scored more goals at home. Gusto went down in the 70th minute for a suspected muscle injury, and was replaced my Mudryk who underperformed and showed his lack of physical ability on the ball. Palace continued to push for a late winner but came to no success.
Chelsea 1 - 1 Crystal Palace
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