Chelsea 0-0 Crystal Palace: Hosts’ £250m attack misfires – should they be worried?
Chelsea are unlikely to be worried at this early stage.
But they will know that victory in the Club World Cup will not easily translate into the Premier League, particularly after a truncated 13-day pre-season having becoming world champions in July.
Manager Enzo Maresca was reluctant to blame a lack of pre-season for Sunday’s display, saying: “I don’t think so, because until the end we competed. We try to win the game. I think we had some chances at the end with Estevao and Andrey Santos.
“So that showed that probably we competed quite good overall. For sure, they already played, I think, seven, eight games (in pre-season). And for us, last week we played two games, but we tried to share minutes.
“So the real game for us was today. But for sure, slowly, slowly we’re going to be better.”
Joao Pedro, Gittens, Estevao and Delap are all new signings that may need time to bed into their new surroundings and build an understanding with their team-mates.
Former Brighton striker Joao Pedro looks the most ready to hit the ground running, with three goals in his three competitive starts for Chelsea having cut his holiday in Brazil short to take part in the Club World Cup.
That contrasts starkly with Palace, who selected 10 of the same 11 players who started the FA Cup final and Community Shield wins against Manchester and Liverpool, with only injured midfielder Daichi Kamada unavailable to play.
Maresca’s biggest ongoing concern is the serious injury to defender Levi Colwill, which he feels disrupts their ability to play out from the back.
The Italian coach has asked the club to sign a new centre-back but they have told him to work with what he has got – and academy graduate Josh Acheampong earned praise from his manager after stepping into Colwill’s place.
Maresca added: “Today he did very well, he dealt with [Jean-Philippe] Mateta very well. So overall, he did a good game.”
Striker Nicolas Jackson was suspended after a red card against Newcastle late last season, but would not have been selected had he been available.
Chelsea remain open to selling Jackson and fellow attacker Christopher Nkunku and are also in the market to sign a forward, with both Manchester United winger Alejandro Garnacho and RB Leipzig’s versatile attacker Xavi Simons targeted before the transfer window shuts on 1 September.