Chelsea (1) 1 v 1 (0) Crystal Palace
25 Jackson, assist Palmer 53 Eze
Yellows: Neto, Jackson, Palmer Hughes, Munoz Ref. John Gillett
Played Sunday 1 September 2024 at Stamford Bridge, attendance undeclared.
Crystal Palace came away from Stamford Bridge with their first Premier League (PL) point of the 2024-25 season and deservedly so. It was lucky 14 for The Eagles having lost all their 13 previous matches against The Blues. Chelsea played the better football in the first half, scored first through a Madueke-Palmer-Jackson combination and should have scored more. Following Head Coach Oliver Glasner’s half-time video show Crystal Palace upped their game. Another brilliant shot from outside the box by forward star Eberechi Eze gave them the equalizer, and coveted defender star Marc Guehi made sure they held on to the draw and that all important first point of the season.
There are no Premier London Derbies (PLDs) matches this weekend it being an International Break for the UEFA Nations League so let’s look at some statistics from the 2023-24 season. 11 players scored 4 or more goals in PLDs matches. Top scorer was Nicolas Jackson (Chelsea) with 7 including the only hat-trick in a PLDs match being that against Tottenham Hotspur. Bukayo Saka (Arsenal) scored 6 with 3 assists and Son Heung-min (Spurs) also 6 and 1 assist. Jarrod Bowen (West Ham) scored 5 and 2 assists; Kai Havertz (Arsenal) 5 and 1 assist; and Yoane Wissa 5 goals.
King of the assists was Declan Rice (Arsenal) with 5 and 3 goals. James Maddison (Spurs) also made 5 assists and scored once. Cole Palmer (Chelsea) made a major impact with 4 assists and 4 goals, 3 of which were his trademark “ice cold” penalties. Martin Odegaard (Arsenal) made 4 assists and scored once.
Overall goal-assist top player was therefore Bukayo Saka with 9 (6 goals, 3 assists) followed by Arsenal team-mate Declan Rice on 8 (3 goals, 5 assists) and Chelsea’s Nicolas Jackson also on 8 being the top goal scorer with 7 and 1 assist. Little wonder Arsenal and Chelsea were the top two PLDs Clubs for the 2023-24 season!
Until next time, “Keep Safe” and enjoy your football, Andrew at PLDs.