While Chelsea fans were looking forward to starting the new Premier League season with a victory, that didn’t happen on Sunday. The Blues were able to finish with a scoreless draw against the Crystal Palace Eagles.
The match, played at Stamford Bridge, did not see too many highlights.Joao Pedro and Liam Delap, two new Chelsea strikers, were not able to get the ball into the goal. Crystal Palace’s Cole Palmer also could not score in the match, either.
But Crystal Palace appeared to score the match’s first goal, only to have it disallowed. There was some confusion and information about the goal, according to United Kingdom website Mirror.
Crystal Palace player Eberechi Eze scored on a free kick. Yet because Marc Guehi was “less than one meter away from the wall” the goal was disallowed. What originally happened? Marc Cucurella received a penalty near the Chelsea box after fouling Will Hughes.
Eze’s kick got past Chelsea goaltender Robert Sanchez.
A VAR check disallowed Eze’s goal. What actually happened here? At first, it appeared that Eze’s goal was not allowed because Guehi pushed Moises Caicedo before Eze kicked the ball. Well, Premier League officials said the real reason that goal was disallowed was because Guehi was “less than one meter away from the wall” when Eze took his shot.
Referee Darren England told the crowd, “After review, away No. 6 is less than one meter away from the wall as the shot is taken. Therefore, it’s an indirect free kick and a disallowed goal.”
According to Premier League rules, “until the ball is in play, all opponents must remain at least 10 yards from the ball, unless they are on their own goal line between the goalposts.”
Chelsea dodged a bullet with that ruling. Now, the Blues will need to get ready for their next match.