Chelsea began 2025 by drawing 1-1 with Crystal Palace in the Premier League, extending their winless run in the top flight to four games.
Cole Palmer opened the scoring after just 14 minutes, linking up well with Jadon Sancho to net his 13th top flight goal of the campaign.
The Blues had plenty of chances to extend the lead in the first half, registering nine shots in total, and they would come to regret missing them.
With just eight minutes of normal time remaining, the Stamford Bridge side conceded an equaliser, with Jean-Philippe Mateta netting for Palace to square things up. The game finished with both teams sharing the spoils, but Enzo Maresca would have been disappointed with his team, especially Nicolas Jackson…
Nicolas Jackson’s struggles vs Crystal Palace
The striker played 81 minutes during the game, yet he failed to get a shot on target, missing three of his efforts while succeeding with just one dribble.
The centre-forward missed a great chance to extend the lead during the first half after racing onto Palmer’s through ball, but he spurned the opportunity which would come back to haunt him.
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Crystal Palace vs Chelsea – Key Statistics |
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Stat |
Highest Ranked |
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Accurate passes |
Levi Colwill (77) |
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Key passes |
Cole Palmer (5) |
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Tackles |
Tyrick Mitchell (6) |
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Ground duels won |
Daniel Munoz (9) |
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Successful dribble attempts |
Jadon Sancho (3) |
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Via Sofascore |
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Jackson struggled to get involved, taking just 30 touches and completing nine passes, while he won just four of the 11 duels he contested during his spell on the pitch.
It wasn’t the greatest performance by the Senegal international, who was given a match rating of 4/10 for his display by the Express following the match.
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Jackson arguably wasn’t the worst of the bunch, however. That is reserved for Marc Cucurella, who looked a shadow of his former self this afternoon.
Marc Cucurella’s game in numbers vs Crystal Palace
The left-back has so often impressed under Maresca this term, buoyed by playing an important role in Spain’s victorious European Championship squad during the summer.
Against Palace, he struggled badly, especially going forward. He attempted one dribble, made zero key passes while also failing to create a big chance during the game.
Defensively, he wasn’t much better. Indeed, the Spaniard – who also failed to keep pace with Mateta for the striker’s equaliser – lost possession ten times, lost five of his eight contested duels while being dribbled past once in what was a display to forget.
The Express journalist Tom Parsons gave him a rating of 5/10 for his performance, stating that Cucurella ‘didn’t get too many opportunities to get forward and allowed Palace to get too many crosses in from the right’ during the clash.
The Blues take on Morecambe in the FA Cup next weekend and this could see Maresca rotate his side in order to give some youngsters a chance in the starting XI.
Dropping the full-back to the bench – with Renato Veiga waiting in the wings – could do Cucurella the world of good, especially as Chelsea play Bournemouth just three days after the cup tie.
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