Eberechi Eze had his powerful free-kick ruled out by an unusual law following a VAR check as Crystal Palace held Chelsea to a goalless draw at Stamford Bridge.

Eze, who started despite being linked with Tottenham, thought he had given Palace the lead in the 13th minute when he blasted a free-kick past goalkeeper Robert Sanchez.

However, the VAR James Bell spotted that Palace captain Marc Guehi had pushed Moises Caicedo to create a gap for the ball to fly through and, in doing so, had moved too close to the Chelsea wall when the ball was struck.

Free-kick law explained

The IFAB Laws of the Game for 2025/26 state: "Where three or more defending team players form a 'wall', all attacking team players must remain at least 1 m (1 yd) from the 'wall' until the ball is in play.

"If, when a free-kick is taken, an attacking team player is less than 1 m (1 yd) from a 'wall' formed by three or more defending team players, an indirect free-kick is awarded."

Referee Darren England ruled out the goal after consulting the pitchside monitor and announced the decision to Stamford Bridge. He said: "After review, the Crystal Palace No 6 (Guehi) is less than one metre away from the wall as the shot is taken. Therefore, it's an indirect free-kick and a disallowed goal."

Sky Sports' Micah Richards said: "There can't be any complaints but it feels like VAR is anti-goals."

Roy Keane added: "Attacking teams now need to be aware of this rule. We see players in there blocking and being a nuisance all the time.

"Guehi's almost gone too far in being a nuisance and shoving players about. He just needed to do it a little bit."

Sky Sports' Chris Sutton said on co-commentary that the decision was "scandalous" and "extremely harsh".

Palace had the better of the first half and, two minutes after the Eze incident, Adam Wharton turned cleverly in midfield before sliding a fine pass through for Jean-Phillipe Mateta, who was denied by Sanchez.

Chelsea had just three shot on target from 19 attempts, going closest in the third minute from Marc Cucurella's flick header, which was cleared off the line by Ismaila Sarr.

The hosts had more control in the second half yet failed to test Dean Henderson. Liam Delap stuck a late volley straight at the Palace goalkeeper before substitute Andrey Santos skied a good chance.

Player ratings:

Chelsea: Sanchez (7); James (6), Acheampong (7), Chalobah (7), Cucurella (7); Caicedo (7), Enzo (6); Neto (6), Palmer (7), Gittens (6); Joao Pedro (6).

Subs: Estevao (6), Delap (6), Gusto (6), Santos (6).

Crystal Palace: Henderson (7); Richards (7), Lacroix (7), Guehi (7); Munoz (7), Wharton (7), Hughes (7), Mitchell (7); Sarr (6), Mateta (7), Eze (7).

Subs: Lerma (6), Devenny (n/a)

Player of the Match: Chris Richards

Maresca: We will slowly be better

Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca:

"We always try to win the game. Unfortunately, we didn't win, but I think overall we deserve it. We created enough chances between the first half and the second half.

"Apart from the free-kick where the goal was disallowed, I don't think we concede chances. But at the same time, we know how tough they are, how well organised they are, and this is the reason why they beat Liverpool and City in the last two finals.

"They already played, I think, seven, eight games. And for us, last week we played two friendly games, but we tried to share minutes. So the first real game was today.

"But for sure, slowly, slowly, we're going to be better."

Teams

Chelsea Sanchez, James (c) (Gusto 79), Chalobah, Acheampong, Cucurella, Caicedo, Enzo (Santos 79), Neto, Palmer, Gittens (Estevao 54), Joao Pedro (Delap 73)
Subs Not Used Jorgensen, Fofana, Hato, Essugo, George
Booked James, Estevao
Goals

Crystal Palace Henderson, Guehi (c), Lacroix, Richards, Mitchell, Wharton, Hughes (Lerma 70), Munoz, Eze (Devenny 84), Sarr, Mateta
Subs Not Used Benitez, Clyne, Sosa, Eduard, Cardines, Rak-Sakyi, Esse
Booked Munoz, Mateta, Hughes
Goals

Attendance 39,678

Referee Darren England

VAR James Bell