The Eagles narrowly lost their first home game of the pre-season today but will have been encouraged by their display against the Premier League Champions.
A bumper crowd of 21,345 at Selhurst Park saw Crystal Palace fielding an experimental side as trialists Alexsander Radosavljevic, David Baiocco and Anthony Ouasfane all made promising starts to their potential Palace careers.
Palace threatened first inside five minutes as a good ball in from the left hand side was sliced behind under pressure from Alan Lee. From the resulting corner though, Chelsea broke quickly only for Franco di Santo to shoot straight at Julian Speroni.
The first half then began to settle down and a strong Chelsea side that included international stars Petr Cech, Alex and Michael Essien started to dominate possesion. Young left-back Ryan Betrand looked to get forward at every opportunaty and was particularly impressive for the Blues.
With Chelsea doing most of the pressing, new Palace signings Adam Barrett and David Wright had to be on their toes and both started well putting in more than one crunching tackle. Despite being under pressure Palace looked solid at the back and overall composed on the ball.
Chelsea's pressure almost paid off in the 26th minute though. A low cross from Jeffrey Bruma was half cleared to Michael Essien. The Ghanian midfielder took one touch before crashing a rising drive on to the bar.
New manager George Burley is associated with sides that play good football and true to form Palace looked to get the ball down and play on the floor at every opportunity.
With half-time approaching, the Eagles began to sparkle as Neil Danns imposed himself on the game. One particularly tricky run ended when he played in Darren Ambrose, who was brought down. Hopes were high around Selhurst for a trademark free-kick but although Ambrose struck it with his usual power and technique the ball flashed just wide.
The first-half was also noteable for the work-rate of the home side. With Chelsea's squad containing many of the youngsters who won the FA Youth Cup last year, the Eagles largely new line-up had to be on their toes throughout what was an extremely competitive contest.
Like the first-half, the second started well for the visitors when a wonderfully weighted through ball from Michael Essien put Daniel Sturridge clean through. The young striker had the goal at his mercy only to dwell on the ball for an absolute age before seeing his shot deflected wide by the recovering Palace defenders.
Essien, who only missed the World Cup through injury, had looked a class apart for most of the game and it was the Chelsea man who broke the deadlock when he found the net with a side-foot finish on 60 minutes after good work in the build-up from Sturridge and Josh McEachran.
Having taken the lead, Carlo Ancelotti decided he'd seen enough from his first-teamers and rang the changes with Palace old-boy Scott Sinclair looking to make an impression on his return. Palace though continued to defend well, although they were indebted to the continued excellence of their goalkeeper who made one brilliant save when he turned a Jeremy Bruma header round the post.
It's not often that a Championship player signs a 35 year-old but ex-Juventus man Davide Baiocoo looks like he could be a shrewd addition to the squad. His departure saw the arrival of Kieron Cadogan who looked bright, stinging the hands of Hilario after a good run from deep.
The last fifteen minutes saw Palace press hard for an equaliser, with the best chance falling to Calvin Andrew following good work from ex-Chelsea man Liam Bridcutt, but from 20 yards the Palace substitue could only shoot straight at Hilario.
Overall, George Burley must've been pleased with both the commitment and football on display by what was an unfamiliar Palace side against the champions of England.
Palace: Speroni, Wright, McCarthy, Barrett (Davis 46), Ouasfane, Baiocco (N'Diaye 71), Radosavljevic (Scannell 45 (Cadogan 71), Danns, Dorman (Zaha 61), Ambrose (Morgan 61), Lee (Andrew 46)
Chelsea : Cech (c) (Turnbull 31) (Hilario 60); Bruma (Chalobah 76), Alex (Cork 60), Van Aanholt, Bertrand; Mikel; Essien (Clifford 60), Matic (Kaby 76); McEachran (Lalkovic 60); Di Santo (Sinclair 60), Sturridge (Tore 76).
