LONDON:
Eberechi Eze’s second-half equalizer gave Crystal Palace their first point of the Premier League season as they secured a 1-1 draw away to Chelsea on Sunday, coming back from a poor start to take a share of the spoils after much improved the second half.
The hosts broke the deadlock in the 25th minute after Palace defender Marc Guehi made a mistimed foray forward and lost the ball, and the visitors’ defensive frailties were once again quickly exposed.
Winger Noni Madueke burst down the right before picking out Cole Palmer, and his deft pass found Nicolas Jackson running into the center to easily score from close range to put Palace on the back foot.
After falling to back-to-back defeats in their opening games of the season against West Ham United and Brentford and getting off to a poor start at Stamford Bridge, the Eagles finally got the lift after the break.
The influential Palmer almost scored from a direct free-kick before Palace found their mojo and Héze equalized in the 53rd minute, picking up the rebound from Cheick Doucoure’s blocked shot and curling the ball beautifully into the net from outside the box.
Also read: Chelsea secure first league points with Madueke hat-trick against Wolves
Both sides continued to chase a winner, with Levi Colwill going close for Chelsea and Palace’s Daichi Kamada forcing a fine save as the clock ticked towards 90 minutes.
Eze had a shot from the edge of the box as his side looked to be tiring in stoppage time and Jackson had two great chances to grab a winner for the Blues.
First, he drove a shot into the side netting to the right of Dean Henderson’s goal and a minute later played in behind the defense only for the Palace keeper to quickly get off his line to clear the danger.
Despite eight minutes of stoppage time, neither team could find another goal and the game ended in a stalemate.
a href=”https://tribune.com.pk/story/2492757/crystal-palace-salvage-draw-at-chelsea-with-ezes-second-half-strike”>Source link
