Chelsea denied by superb Eze equaliser
Ebere Eze’s superb strike denied Chelsea victory at Stamford Bridge.
The Blues went ahead with a goal by Nicolas Jackson but Crystal Palace hit back through former QPR star Eze to secure a point.
Chelsea made a bright start and Cole Palmer flashed a shot inches wide from the edge of the penalty area in the 11th minute,
Noni Madueke should have opened the scoring when he shot wide from close range 10 minutes later.
Keeper Dean Henderson then denied Madueke with a superb save, turning his effort onto the crossbar and over.
The hosts’ pressure paid off when Jackson netted after 25 minutes.
From a speedy attack down the right side, Palmer squared the ball across the visitors’ goal for the striker to easily tuck home from inside the six-yard area.
Chelsea began brightly after the restart, and the busy Henderson made a superb save to deny Palmer from a well-taken set piece.
But Eze took advantage of the Blues’ failure to clear the danger from the edge of their penalty area – curled a delightful right-foot shot past keeper Robert Sanchez.
The second half ebbed and flowed, with Eagles’midfielder Daichi Kamada powering a drive which Sanchez did well to parry over the woodwork.
Yet for all Chelsea’s endeavour – Jackson went close on a couple of occasions late on – they could not grab a winning goal.
Chelsea: Sanchez, Cucurella, Colwill, Fofana, Gusto (Mudryk 73), Fernandez, Caicedo, Neto (Felix 57), Palmer, Madueke, Jackson (Nkunku 85)
Subs not used: Jorgensen, Disasi, Tosin, Dewsbury-Hall, Casadei, Veiga.
