Enzo Maresca promises fans Chelsea will slowly but surely get better after lacklustre Crystal Palace 0-0 draw

Enzo Maresca said Chelsea will get better this season but asked Blues fans for patience after an 0-0 draw with Crystal Palace kicked off their 2025/26 Premier League campaign. An Eberechi Eze free-kick appeared to have put The Eagles in front until it was disallowed by VAR and despite dominating the ball and blooding five new players, Chelsea struggled to trouble Dean Henderson.

Enzo Maresca promised Chelsea fans The Blues will improve after a 0-0 draw in their Premier League opener against Crystal Palace, but warned against expecting too much too soon.

Winning the Club World Cup combined with another lavish summer spending spree had raised hopes in west London of a first sustained title challenge under Todd Boehly, and Maresca gave five players their first Premier League appearances for the club.

But Chelsea struggled to gel and almost went behind before Eberechi Eze's free-kick goal was controversially disallowed by VAR. So having only overseen two friendlies between the Club World Cup final and the start of the Premier League, Maresca asked fans to temper their expectations for now.

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"Until the end we competed, we tried to win the game," Maresca said in his press conference. "I think we had some chances at the end with Estevao, with Andrey Santos so that showed that probably we competed overall quite good.

"They already played seven or eight games, I think, and last week we played two friendlies but we tried to share minutes so for us, the first real game was today. But for sure slowly, surely we are going to be better.

"We always try to win the game. Unfortunately we did not win but I think overall we created enough chances during the first half and second half. 

"Less the free-kick where the goal was disallowed, I do not think we conceded chances but at the same time we know how tough they are, how organised they are and this is the reason why they beat, in the last two finals, Liverpool and [Manchester] City."

Maresca vows Chelsea will ‘slowly get better’ after Palace draw

Video credit: SNTV

While Dean Henderson had to be more alert over the 90 minutes, the biggest moments of the match called Robert Sanchez into action as the second-best chance of the game also fell to Crystal Palace when Jean-Philippe Mateta was put through by Adam Wharton but could not beat the Spaniard.

Crystal Palace had more shots on target according to Opta, though Chelsea had twice as many attempts at Henderson’s net with Estevao, Pedro Neto and Andrey Santos all missing the target from gilt-edged opportunities in the penalty area.

Maresca addresses injury concerns at centre-back

While Maresca is still waiting for his side to gel in the final third, Chelsea’s backline is causing the Italian a different kind of headache. With Levi Colwill already set to miss a significant portion of 2025/26 after suffering an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury in training, Tosin Adarabioyo was unavailable for selection against The Eagles having started Chelsea’s final pre-season game.

Wesley Fofana was totemic at the back in the last campaign when fit but has only played twice in 2025, both times in March, and started this season as an unused substitute.

"He had a physical problem, we do not know for long," Maresca added when asked about Tosin. "Wes [Wesley Fofana] was on the bench but was just on the bench to be with us. The plan was not to get any minutes and now hopefully for the next one we can start to use [Fofana] for some minutes. 

"[Estevao] Was very good, he showed personality, he is already showing that in training, and no doubt slowly, surely he will be a very important player for the club."

The Blues play West Ham United, Fulham and Brentford in their next three matches and none of that trio won their first games of the Premier League season.

But Maresca will hope to have his cupboard better stocked at centre-back by the end of that run before matches against Manchester United, Brighton & Hove Albion, Liverpool, Nottingham Forest, Sunderland and Tottenham Hotspur in addition to UEFA Champions League fixtures take Chelsea up to the start of November.

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