LONDON: Eberechi Eze was denied a free-kick goal as Crystal Palace was held to a goalless draw at Chelsea in the Premier League on Sunday.
The 27-year-old midfielder, linked with a move to Tottenham Hotspur, started at Stamford Bridge and appeared to give Palace the lead with a thunderous strike from 20 yards in the 13th minute.
However, referee Darren England disallowed the goal after a VAR review, ruling that defender Marc Guehi had stood within a meter of Chelsea's wall when the kick was taken. The regulation, introduced in 2019, left Palace frustrated after an encouraging first half in which Jean-Philippe Mateta and Maxence Lacroix also went close.
Chelsea, who paraded its FIFA Club World Cup trophy before kick-off following victory over Paris Saint-Germain just over a month ago, looked disjointed for much of the opening period.
After coming off the bench, Chelsea debutants Estevao, Liam Delap and Andrey Santos posed threats but failed to find the net.
Nottingham Forest beat Brentford
Nottingham Forest cruised to a 3-1 win over Brentford to open its Premier League campaign, while spoiling Keith Andrews' debut as Brentford manager.
Forest struck early, with Chris Wood poking home from a corner in the fifth minute. The host continued to dominate and doubled its advantage three minutes before the break, as Swiss debutant Dan Ndoye rose to head in Morgan Gibbs-White's chipped pass.
The game was effectively over in first-half stoppage time when Elliot Anderson intercepted Sepp van den Berg's ball and released Wood, who rounded goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher to finish calmly for his second goal.
Brentford rarely threatened but pulled one back in the 78th minute through Igor Thiago's penalty after Ibrahim Sangare handled in the box, the Brazilian netting his first goal since joining from Club Brugge.
The triumph marked Forest's first opening-day league victory since 2017-18, while Andrews endured a difficult start in his first match in charge of the Bees