Chelsea’s £250m attack misfires – but should they be worried?

In their opening Premier League game, Chelsea lacked a goalkeeper with a combined £250 million budget when they faced Crystal Palace.

Joao Pedro, who made the initial signing for £55 million from Brighton this summer, got going right away. Jamie Gittens, a seasoned performer who left Borussia Dortmund for £52 million last month, made his debut on one flank while Pedro Neto, a seasoned £45 million player, did the opposite.

The £40 million attacking midfielder, Cole Palmer, was ranked in the back row, but Palace dominated the opening period and almost opened the scoring.

Eberechi Eze scored a 13th-minute free kick, but VAR later decided against it because Palace captain Marc Guehi was less than one meter away from the visitors’ defensive wall.

In the second half, Chelsea added two more new attacking signings: 30-year-old Ipswich striker Liam Delap and 29-year-old winger Estevao Willian, who signed from Palmeiras.

In a disappointing new year’s start, the Blues were held to a goalless draw at Stamford Bridge, and they both missed important chances, as did fellow substitute Andrey Santos.

There will be ongoing scrutiny over Chelsea if they fail to build on their Summer Club World Cup success despite the fact that this was just one game and no titles are decided on the opening weekend.

Some have predicted that the Blues will challenge for the title with improved creativity and goalscoring, but they will need to do so in a 38-game campaign against champions Liverpool and opponents like Arsenal and Manchester City.

Chelsea will discover a worrying statistic when they examine the results of the game: they only managed three shots on target in the final 90 minutes, one less than Palace did.

However, the 1.81 expected goals (xG), which was the Blues’ highest xG figure without a league goal in 2025, will encourage them more. This is higher than Palace’s 1.07, which was superior to Palace’s 1.07.

When Chelsea last had such a number of chances without scoring away from Ipswich in December last year, they were 2-0 down.

Since the start of the 2022-23 Premier League season, 88% of teams with xGs of 1. 7 to 1. 9 have scored at least once, according to statistics.

Chelsea are unlikely to be concerned at this stage.

However, they will be aware that, despite having won the Club World Cup in July and having a shortened 13-day pre-season, they will not be able to compete for the Premier League.

Enzo Maresca, the manager, said: “I don’t think so, because until the end we competed. We make an effort to win. With Estevao and Andrey Santos, I believe we had some chances in the end.

That demonstrated how likely we performed well overall in the competition. They certainly have already played seven or eight games (pre-season), I believe. And last week, we played two games, but we made an effort to share our minutes.

“So today was the real game for us,” he said. But one thing is certain: “We’re going to get better gradually.”

The arrivals of Joao Pedro, Gittens, Estevao, and Delap may require some time to settle in and rekindle a relationship with their team-mates.

With three goals in his three competitive starts for Chelsea, Joao Pedro, who had previously cut short his time away from Brazil to play in the Club World Cup, appears most prepared to hit the ground running.

With only injured midfielder Daichi Kamada out, Palace chose 10 of the same 11 players who started the FA Cup final and won against Manchester and Liverpool.

The serious injury to defender Levi Colwill, according to Maresca, is his main concern as he continues to play the team’s back-to-back games.

The Italian coach has asked for a new centre-back, but the club has instructed him to use what he has, and academy graduate Josh Acheampong received praise from Colwill’s replacement.

Maresca continued, “Today, he did very well, and he handled]Jean-Philippe] Mateta very well.” Overall, he played a good game.

If he had been available, Nicolas Jackson, a striker, would not have been selected had he been suspended after receiving a red card against Newcastle in the late season.