Chelsea's Cole Palmer reacts during the Premier League soccer match between Chelsea and Crystal Palace in London, Sunday, Aug. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Shopland)
Chelsea's head coach Enzo Maresca reacts during the Premier League soccer match between Chelsea and Crystal Palace in London, Sunday, Aug. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Shopland)
Crystal Palace's Eberechi Eze reacts during the Premier League soccer match between Chelsea and Crystal Palace in London, Sunday, Aug. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Dave Shopland)
Nottingham Forest's Chris Wood celebrates after scoring his side's third goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Nottingham Forest and Brentford at City Ground, Nottingham, England, Sunday Aug. 17, 2025. (Bradley Collyer/PA via AP)
Chelsea was held to a 0-0 draw by Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Sunday in the team's first competitive match as the club world champion.
A month after stunning Paris Saint-Germain in the , Chelsea toiled in its league opener at Stamford Bridge after a short preseason because of its exertions in the United States.
Nottingham Forest, meanwhile, hit the ground running with a 3-1 win over Brentford, with striker Chris Wood — the team's top scorer last season with 20 goals — netting twice in the first half either side of a goal on debut by .
Later, Manchester United hosts Arsenal in the marquee match of the opening round, which has already seen wins for likely title contenders Liverpool and Manchester City.
Eze's farewell?
Eberechi Eze has been heavily linked with a move to Tottenham so the England midfielder might have been making his final appearance for Palace.
He almost marked it with a goal.
In the 13th minute, Eze smashed a direct free kick past Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez from the edge of the area but the goal was ruled out after a video review spotted an infringement by Palace captain Marc Guehi as he attempted to push aside Chelsea's Moises Caicedo in the defensive wall.
The Premier League confirmed Guehi was standing less than one meter (yard) from the wall as the shot was taken, which is not allowed.
Joao Pedro and Cole Palmer, stars for Chelsea in the Club World Cup were quiet. The hosts lacked intensity because they've only been back in training for a couple of weeks, while Palace has had a long preseason and was coming off last weekend.
Hot Wood
Chris Wood started quickly last season in the best goalscoring top-flight campaign of his career, and he needed just five minutes to open his account this time round, making the most of a poor clearance at a corner to give Forest the lead against Brentford.
Ndoye headed in a second in the 42nd minute and Wood rounded the goalkeeper in first-half stoppage time to stroke in a third.
Igor Thiago converted a late penalty for a consolation for Brentford, which has sold star forward Bryan Mbeumo to Manchester United and didn't play — a striker linked with a move to Newcastle.
Jota tribute
All matches on Sunday featured a period of silence before kickoff as a tribute to Diogo Jota and Andre Silva, the brothers who were in Spain last month. Jota was a player for Liverpool at the time.
___
Steve Douglas is at
___
AP soccer:
°µÍø½ûÇø. All rights reserved.
A sellout crowd of 15,892 watched the Atlanta Dream on Friday when they faced the …
Health experts, advocates and unions are raising concerns about Alberta’s plan to …
Sorry, an error occurred.
Already Subscribed!
Cancel anytime
Thank you .
Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in.
Check your email for details.
Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.
An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the email address listed on your account.
No promotional rates found.
Secure & Encrypted
Thank you.
Your gift purchase was successful! Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in.
| Rate: | |
| Begins: | |
| Transaction ID: |
A receipt was sent to your email.
