CHELSEA DRAW BLANK IN OPENER

CHELSEA suffered a Club World Cup hangover as they were lucky to escape with a 0-0 draw against Crystal Palace to open their Premier League campaign on Sunday.

Palace were denied an early opener when Eberechi Eze’s free-kick was ruled out by a VAR review for Marc Guehi obstructing the Chelsea wall.

New Chelsea signing Estevao came closest to snatching a winner, but the newly-crowned world champions were blunt in attack against a well-organised Palace defence.

The Eagles key duo Guehi and Eze started despite mounting speculation the England internationals are set to join Liverpool and Tottenham respectively.

Meanwhile, Nottingham Forest made light of manager Nuno Espirito Santo’s pre-season fears with a dominant 3-1 win over a much-changed Brentford.