Chelsea 0-0 Crystal Palace: Eze's free kick goal ruled out in goalless game

Eberechi Eze had his powerful free-kick ruled out by an unusual law following a VAR check as Crystal Palace held Chelsea to a goalless draw at Stamford Bridge.

Match Report

Eze, who started despite being linked with Tottenham, thought he had given Palace the lead in the 13th minute when he blasted a free-kick past goalkeeper Robert Sanchez.

However, the VAR James Bell spotted that Palace captain Marc Guehi had pushed Moises Caicedo to create a gap for the ball to fly through and, in doing so, had moved too close to the Chelsea wall when the ball was struck.

Referee Darren England ruled out the goal after consulting the pitchside monitor and announced the decision to Stamford Bridge. He said: "After review, the Crystal Palace No 6 (Guehi) is less than one metre into the wall as the shot is taken. Therefore, it's an indirect free-kick and a disallowed goal."

Sky Sports' Micah Richards said: "There can't be any complaints but it feels like VAR is anti-goals."

Roy Keane added: "Attacking teams now need to be aware of this rule. We see players in there blocking and being a nuisance all the time.

"Guehi's almost gone too far in being a nuisance and shoving players about. He just needed to do it a little bit."

Palace had the better of the first half and, two minutes after the Eze incident, Adam Wharton turned cleverly in midfield before sliding a fine pass through for Jean-Phillipe Mateta, who was denied by Sanchez.

Chelsea had just three shot on target from 19 attempts, going closest in the third minute from Marc Cucurella's flick header, which was cleared off the line by Ismaila Sarr.

The hosts had more control in the second half yet failed to test Dean Henderson. Liam Delap stuck a late volley straight at the Palace goalkeeper before substitute Andrey Santos skied a good chance.

Match Events

0' The match is about to start!

0' Moment of silence before the match in memory of Diogo Jota and Andre Silva

4' Cucurella's header is denied by a goalline clearance

13' No goal! Palace players foul to make room for Eze's free-kick

19' Mateta fires a low shot in the box but Sanchez is well positioned to make a save

23' Neto takes aim but the ball hits the defender and bounces away

27' Foul by Gittens as he brings down Will Hughes

28' Daniel Muñoz is shown the yellow card for a bad foul

31' Chalobah finds space inside the box to shoot but it flies high over the bar

33' Acheampong with a slide tackle to clear the ball

46' Palmer shot is blocked, it rebounds back to Cucurella whose attempt goes high

49' Will Hughes is booked yellow as he plays a harsh tackle on Caicedo

54' Estêvão comes on for his Premier League debut, replacing Jamie Gittens

55' Caicedo goes down in pain after being caught but the ref says no foul

57' Neto latches on to a Estêvão cross to head the ball wide of the net

60' Chelsea legend Eden Hazard has come to Stamford Bridge

66' A rebound falls for Estevao, but his shot flies high over bar

73' Liam Delap replaces João Pedro

78' Mateta tries his luck from outside the box, but Sanchez saves the ball

80' Andrey Santos and Gusto replace Enzo and Reece James

83' Eze strikes the ball towards the roof of the net but Sanchez denies the effort

89' Gusto unleashes a shot on the edge of the box which is wide of the mark

90' Delap drills a low shot, but Dean Henderson makes a quick save

93' Andrey Santos gets a Cucurella cross and drives a shot high over the bar

Line-ups

Chelsea XI: Cucurella, Trevoh Chalobah, Reece James, Robert Sánchez, Pedro Neto, Cole Palmer, João Pedro, Enzo, Caicedo, Gittens, Josh Acheampong

Subs: Wesley Fofana, Jørgensen, Gusto, Liam Delap, Dário Essugo, Jorrel Hato, Andrey Santos, Tyrique George, Estêvão

Crystal Palace XI: Hughes, Dean Henderson, Jean-Philippe Mateta, Sarr, Eberechi Eze, Daniel Muñoz, Guehi, Maxence Lacroix, Chris Richards, Tyrick Mitchell, Adam Wharton

Subs: Clyne, Walter Benítez, Lerma, Borna Sosa, Odsonne Édouard, Justin Devenny, Jesurun Rak-Sakyi, Romain Esse, Rio Cardines