4 January 2025
Crystal Palace 1 Chelsea 1
It had not been a good New Year period for Enzo Maresca’s side. Losses to both Fulham and Ipswich Town had seen their rivals close the gap on the top four spots and more importantly fall away from any alleged title challenge. Crystal Palace welcomed them to Selhurst Park, who had not been in the best of form themselves this season.
Despite having spent so much to strengthen their squad under Todd Boehly, The Blues just seemed unable to put sides away when dominating this season. That is something you often get punished for at this level and no doubt Maresca wanted to see a marked improvement from his team in the London derby against Glasner’s Palace.
As both teams jostled in the early stages to try and take control of the game, it took some great work from a player who is looking to get his career back on track with Chelsea. Sancho picked it up on the left and beat Mitchell to create some space for himself. He cut into the box, with three Palace players in front of him, seemingly with nothing on.
The winger then played a brilliant pass in between the trio to find an unmarked Palmer. He slotted into the far corner to give the visitors the lead. It was great play from Sancho that made the goal and left his teammate with a seemingly easier task of finishing. The away end rejoiced as the Palace fans seemed to lose their voices in the capital.
It didn’t take too long before The Eagles started to get some joy against this Chelsea defence. It was worked out wide to Munoz, who did well to pick out Mateta just inside the box. He swept his shot towards the far corner but it narrowly fell the wrong side of the post. It had taken a slight deflection on its way through off one of The Blues’ players.
Palmer then played a sublime pass through the Crystal Palace defence to send Jackson on his way. He did well to cut back inside, beating his man, but his finish was distinctly lacking. It had seemed earlier in the season that the striker had found his groove but now he appears to be back to the inconsistent player we saw last season.
Into the second-half and the hosts seemed to come out of their shell more. Munoz did brilliantly down the right flank once again and managed to pick out a teammate in the middle with an inch-perfect cross. It fell to Eze who looked to shoot first-time but he dragged it just wide of the far post. The talented attacker knew he should have done better.
Palace’s front three of Sarr, Mateta and Eze seemed to be clicking well this season. You had barely noticed the loss of Olise to Bayern Munich but they are not proving clinical enough. Glasner’s side will always create chances but the fact that they are not taking them is fairly reflected in their league position so far in this campaign.
Chelsea seemed to not be with it after the break and gave away an unnecessary free kick as Caicedo pushed a player over. As the cross came into the box, Richards did well to win the header. Only an acrobatic save was enough to deny him as it was tipped over the crossbar. You wondered if they would be made to pay for their poor form in front of goal.
Palmer then went running through into the penalty area. He unselfishly looked to lay it on a plate for a teammate at the back post but Neto did not react quickly enough. He just didn’t seem to have that hunger of a goalscorer, looking to feed off any scraps in the box. He felt he should have had a penalty for a challenge moments later but neither the referee nor VAR agreed with him.
Jackson then made a good run in behind Lacroix but his left-footed shot missed the far post by the narrowest of margins. The Blues had spurned plenty of chances to score a second goal, something which cost them dearly when they faced Fulham at Stamford Bridge recently. Surely they had learnt something from that defeat you wondered.
Then came that ‘I told you so’ moment. Palmer gave the ball away near the halfway line. Sarr fed the ball into Eze in the box. Rather than taking on the shot from a difficult angle, he squared it to Mateta, who had the easy task of slotting home to draw The Eagles’ level. Selhurst Park was a cauldron of noise as their attacking trio had got them back into this game.
Try as they might to complain to the referee, hoping to get the goal chalked off, the referee waved away Chelsea’s protests. As the replay showed, despite the claims, Munoz had not used any part of his arm when he dispossessed Palmer in the build-up. Chelsea had paid the price once again for failing to put the game to bed.
This will prove a morale-boosting draw for Oliver Glasner’s side. It is something for the manager to build on as they look to make the second-half of their season more impressive than the first. Chelsea held onto fourth spot but it is four games without a win for Enzo Maresca’s side now. He needs to address their disjointed defence if they are to secure Champions League qualification this term.
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