Chelsea played out a frustrating goalless draw with London rivals Crystal Palace in their opening game of the season.
The Blues looked like a team that only returned from holiday two weeks ago due to the Club World Cup, creating few chances as Palace were the more organised side.
The Eagles did have the ball in the net in the first half, only for it to be ruled out in slightly controversial fashion.
The only positive of note for the Blues will be Estevao Willian, who caused several threats after coming on and at 18-years-old can only get better.
Chelsea had Joao Pedro and Jamie Gittens start for their Premier League debuts, whilst 19-year-old Josh Acheampong came in as a centre-back to replace the injured Levi Colwill and Tosin Adarabioyo.
The visitors had Eberechi Eze and ex-Blue Marc Guehi in the lineup, despite both being heavily linked with moves elsewhere – The former had the ball in the net inside 13 minutes from a 20-yard free-kick, although it was chalked off by VAR due to Guehi being within a metre of Chelsea’s three-man wall.
The closest the Blues came to breaking the deadlock in the opening half hour was from Marc Cucurella’s near-post flick-on that had to be cleared off the line, whilst Cole Palmer had a wayward effort from range that didn’t quite curl towards the top corner.
It was a half marred by astray passing and a lack of rhythm for Chelsea, as Palmer was limited to just 22 touches as he failed to influence proceedings whilst Pedro didn’t get a single shot off.
Estevao came on in the 54th minute following his £29m + add-ons move in the summer and was instantly involved in the action; He beat Tyrick Mitchell on the flank and then put a dangerous cross in that threatened Palace’s resistance and soon after beat three players around him in a tight scenario.
Liam Delap was also introduced and threw his weight around multiple times in a bid to unsettle the likes of Guehi and Maxence Lacroix, but his touch let him down in the final third when it really mattered.
As the final 10 minutes played out, the hosts became more and more desperate in front of goal – summed up by Malo Gusto’s crazy shot from 30 yards out that cannoned high and wide of the target.
Andrey Santos spurned a glorious chance to steal all three points in stoppage time when Delap held the ball up for Cucurella on the edge of the box, with the Spaniard then picking out the midfielder in acres of space but his first-time shot ballooned over.