Chelsea's £250m attack misfires - but should they be worried?

Chelsea used six attackers signed for a combined £250m in their Premier League opener, but could not find a way to score against Crystal Palace.

Joao Pedro, signed from Brighton this summer for £55m, started up front. Winger Jamie Gittens, who joined from Borussia Dortmund for £52m last month, made his debut on one flank, with £45m man Pedro Neto on the other.

Cole Palmer, the £40m attacking midfielder, played in behind as a number 10 - but despite Chelsea's attacking riches it was Palace who dominated the early stages and almost opened the scoring.

Midfielder Eberechi Eze rifled home a 13th-minute free-kick, but the goal was subsequently ruled out by VAR because Palace captain Marc Guehi was less than one metre away from the hosts' defensive wall.

Chelsea responded in the second half by bringing on two more new attacking signings - £29m winger Estevao Willian, who joined from Palmeiras, and £30m former Ipswich striker Liam Delap.

They both missed big chances, as did fellow substitute Andrey Santos, as the Blues were held to a goalless draw at Stamford Bridge in a disappointing start to the new season.

While this was only one match, and no titles are decided on the opening weekend, there will be ongoing scrutiny around Chelsea if they fail to build on their Club World Cup victory in the summer.

Some have tipped the Blues to mount a title challenge, but they will need to improve both creativity and goal-scoring to challenge champions Liverpool and the likes of Arsenal and Manchester City over a 38-game season.

That said, Chelsea's internal target remains to qualify for next season's Champions League through a top-four finish.

When they dig into the data after the match, Chelsea will see one worrying statistic: they had just three shots on target - one fewer than Palace managed over 90 minutes.

However, they will be more encouraged by the figure of 1.81 expected goals (xG), which was superior to Palace's 1.07, and was the Blues' highest xG figure without scoring in a league match in 2025.

It was the 2-0 defeat away at Ipswich in December last year when Chelsea last amassed such chances without scoring.

Figures show that 88% of teams with an xG of between 1.7 and 1.9 have scored at least once since the start of the 2022-23 Premier League season.

It serves to highlight both some bad luck and poor finishing, with Chelsea's best chance, according to Opta, being hit well over by midfielder Santos on his weaker left foot in the dying moments.

Chelsea are unlikely to be worried at this early stage.

But they will know that victory in the Club World Cup will not easily translate into the Premier League, particularly after a truncated 13-day pre-season having becoming world champions in July.

Manager Enzo Maresca was reluctant to blame a lack of pre-season for Sunday's display, saying: "I don't think so, because until the end we competed. We try to win the game. I think we had some chances at the end with Estevao and Andrey Santos.

"So that showed that probably we competed quite good overall. For sure, they already played, I think, seven, eight games (in pre-season). And for us, last week we played two games, but we tried to share minutes.

"So the real game for us was today. But for sure, slowly, slowly we're going to be better."

Joao Pedro, Gittens, Estevao and Delap are all new signings that may need time to bed into their new surroundings and build an understanding with their team-mates.

Former Brighton striker Joao Pedro looks the most ready to hit the ground running, with three goals in his three competitive starts for Chelsea having cut his holiday in Brazil short to take part in the Club World Cup.

That contrasts starkly with Palace, who selected 10 of the same 11 players who started the FA Cup final and Community Shield wins against Manchester and Liverpool, with only injured midfielder Daichi Kamada unavailable to play.

Maresca's biggest ongoing concern is the serious injury to defender Levi Colwill, which he feels disrupts their ability to play out from the back.

The Italian coach has asked the club to sign a new centre-back but they have told him to work with what he has got - and academy graduate Josh Acheampong earned praise from his manager after stepping into Colwill's place.

Maresca added: "Today he did very well, he dealt with [Jean-Philippe] Mateta very well. So overall, he did a good game."

Striker Nicolas Jackson was suspended after a red card against Newcastle late last season, but would not have been selected had he been available.

Chelsea remain open to selling Jackson and fellow attacker Christopher Nkunku and are also in the market to sign a forward, with both Manchester United winger Alejandro Garnacho and RB Leipzig's versatile attacker Xavi Simons targeted before the transfer window shuts on 1 September.