Eze denied, Lacroix shines – Crystal Palace’s 3 winners and 3 losers vs Chelsea
Crystal Palace made a solid start to the new Premier League season with a 0-0 draw away at Chelsea on Sunday.
The Eagles were unlucky not to leave with all three points after Eberechi Eze had a thunderous free-kick strike disallowed by VAR early in the first half.
But Palace can still be proud of their defensive effort, standing tall even as a frustrated Chelsea ramped up the pressure in the second half.
Attention will soon turn to Palace’s first-ever European match against Fredrikstad on Thursday, but first, let’s take a look at the winners and losers from Sunday’s trip to Stamford Bridge.
Winners
Maxence Lacroix
Palace enjoyed some dangerous attacking moments, but Sunday was all about their rearguard effort. That was led by Maxence Lacroix, anchoring the back five from his central position.
The Frenchman was an absolute wall in the face of Chelsea’s expensively assembled attack, making three tackles, three blocks, seven clearances, two interceptions and two recoveries, while winning six of his 10 duels (FotMob).
It didn’t matter whether Chelsea tried to cross it into the box, slip it into a gap or run straight at the Palace backline; Lacroix was just equal to everything thrown at him.
Lacroix has been frankly superb since arriving at Selhurst Park from Wolfsburg last summer, and this performance will rank highly in what is becoming a fast-growing highlights reel.
Dean Henderson
Of course, no matter how well your defence performs, you’re going to need your goalkeeper eventually.
Dean Henderson has made a habit of stepping up in big moments for Palace in recent months, saving an Omar Marmoush penalty in last season’s FA Cup triumph and performing heroics in the Community Shield victory against Liverpool last week.
Henderson didn’t exactly have his busiest afternoon on Sunday, required to make just two saves. However, they were vital interventions in second-half stoppage time to deny Liam Delap and Andrey Santos, preserving a clean sheet and a point in the opening fixture.
Nobody has ever really doubted Henderson’s quality as a goalkeeper, but the 28-year-old is now building a solid case to become a regular face in Thomas Tuchel’s England set-up — as Jordan Pickford’s understudy at the very least.
Adam Wharton
A groin injury disrupted Adam Wharton’s 2024/25 campaign, and yet he still did enough to attract recent attention from Real Madrid.
That’s a sure indicator of the sheer talent the 21-year-old possesses, and he’ll surely be an England regular himself sooner rather than later.
The midfielder figures as a winner here for the sheer amount of composure, concentration and quality he showed at Stamford Bridge, despite the chatter around his future — Los Blancos, after all, can be a very distracting presence.
Wharton wasn’t perfect against Chelsea, being dribbled past four times. However, he was excellent with the ball, creating two chances, making eight passes into the final third and completing both of his dribbles.
The one-cap international’s style and grace will be vital to Palace in Europe this season, and he’s a player they’ll want to keep around for a while yet as they face losing Eze and Marc Guehi.
Losers
Eberechi Eze
Is this Eberechi Eze’s last dance as a Crystal Palace player? It might well be, with Spurs seemingly close to agreeing a deal with the Eagles.
Eze is not a ‘loser’ here because he played poorly. If anything, this was a great way to sign off from the Palace supporters, with the 27-year-old terrorsing the Chelsea defenders with six shots, one chance created and two out of three dribbles completed.
But it just would have been so much better had his powerful free-kick stood, paying back the club that has given him so much with a memorable win at Stamford Bridge.
Marc Guehi
In many ways, Guehi’s push on Moises Caicedo to help clear the path for Eze’s free-kick can be viewed as a moment of genius.
However, the centre-back just went a little bit too far, ending up too close to the defensive wall and, thus, breaking Law 13 and seeing the goal chalked off.
If Eze leaves, Guehi might well feel a touch of guilt at denying him his last-ever Palace goal.
Jean-Philippe Mateta
Jean-Philippe Mateta has arguably been the brightest light of the Oliver Glasner era so far, netting 31 goals in 61 appearances under the Austrian.
Sunday, however, was not his day.
The France international did have a couple of flurries, but a shot inside the box in the 19th minute aside, he was reduced to speculative efforts from distance.
That was Mateta’s only touch in the opposition box as Palace focused more on keeping Chelsea out at the other end.
And that’s absolutely fine, with Palace well worthy of their point on the road. But Mateta is the sort of character who wants to deliver in the biggest moments, so he’ll be frustrated at his lack of service at Stamford Bridge.