Chelsea and Crystal Palace fought tooth and nail in a tense, physical Premier League match on Saturday. The match ended with both sides sharing a scoreless draw at Stamford Bridge. Both teams exhibited moments of promise but failed to capitalize on scoring opportunities, leaving fans eager for more as the match concluded.
The first 45 minutes merely foreshadowed the furious fight that was to come, one in which Chelsea made clear they would not back down from the challenge. The Blues’ Moisés Caicedo showed off his skill on an all-time great touch at the minute mark. Just moments later he was brought down by Palace’s Nathaniel Hughes, who was issued a yellow card for the challenge.
As the second half wore on, Chelsea’s Cole Palmer began to show himself as a real threat. Then in the 59th minute, he cut in and curled a shot. Sadly, an excellent defensive wall stood in its way, keeping the ball from the goal. 62′ Chelsea earned a corner kick at the 62 minute mark. The tenuous threat was stymied in no time as Palace’s defense marked the corner quickly without much issue.
Chelsea weren’t done though, Trevoh Chalobah winning another corner just a few minutes later. The home team moved the ball to their left and earned another corner as the game reached 65 minutes. Palmer had plenty of time to think through his best shot selection during this stretch but was still unable to convert.
As the match went on, Reece James started having more influence on attack. That change came around the 72-minute mark when manager Enzo Maresca made a smart tactical decision to sub out striker Pedro for Sam Delap. This alteration was a desperate attempt to bring new legs to the Chelsea side as they looked to avoid the stalemate.
No matter how hard they tried, Chelsea simply could not create clear cut chances to get past an organized Palace backline. At 88 mins, Palmer set up Malo Gusto, who tried his luck with a long-range effort that went too high. Moments later, Chelsea won another corner that was comfortably cleared by Palace.
In the closing minutes, Chelsea made a last-ditch full-throttle attempt. They were denied by Palace’s resolute defence at the 90+6th minute. An unlikely chance came through when Neto discovered Palmer isolated, but Richards prevented the shot, keeping the game deadlocked at a tie.