Chelsea made a decent start to the match, but were unable to open the scoring inside the first 15 minutes, at which point Palace started coming into the game and making it more of an even affair. Some random and inconsistent refereeing added to the momentum shift.
But after Noni Madueke’s point-blank effort was pushed onto the crossbar by the goalkeeper, Chelsea were able to take the lead through a scintillating counter-attack: Madueke to Palmer to Jackson to tap-in at the far post.
The rest of the first-half passed by without too much trouble; while the second began with Palmer forcing an excellent save by a well taken free kick.
But his shot was bettered by an effort from Eberechi Eze, who brought Palace level in the 53rd minute with a tremendous strike after we failed to deal effectively with a corner.
Palace were suddenly in the ascendancy, generating multiple dangerous opportunities and promising attacks, with Chelsea struggling to match our first-half flow.
We tried to make a late push for a winner, finally showing some urgency late on, but were unable to unlock Palace’s massed ranks. Jackson had a fantastic chance in stoppage time but was unable to beat the goalkeeper 1-v-1.
