Eberechi Eze gives Crystal Palace a point and Nicolas Jackson costs Chelsea | Premier League

Nicolas Jackson has agreed to stay at Stamford Bridge for the next nine years. Frustrated Chelsea Fans might think, after a harrowing period of stoppage time in which he missed two golden opportunities, that it might take that long to score again. In reality, Chelsea only had eight minutes of added time and, although the 23-year-old Senegal international had to face goal not once but twice, it was not enough to secure victory.

Jackson's first shot found the side netting; his second attempt was met by a thigh and wrist combination from Dean Henderson. This left Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca in a very different situation. After Chelsea lost here on Matchday 1 to Manchester City, it means the Italian will continue to search for his first goal. Premier League Home win when Brighton visit on September 28.

With Jadon Sancho sidelined for this game after completing his loan from Manchester United too late to feature, Maresca tried out most of his other attacking options in an attempt to pick up three points that a better Chelsea performance would possibly justify.

What they didn't need was a world-class striker with a Premier League goalscoring record. Instead, the club seem determined to keep faith with Jackson, perhaps until 2033.

“The only thing I know is that he will sign a new contract, I don't know for how many years,” Maresca said.

“I am very happy. Nicolas is doing a fantastic job with us. He has scored again. He has had more chances, but we are happy with him.

“I had faith, and the club did too, even before that in Jackson. We had faith in Nicolas. When the transfer window opened, I said he was doing fantastically well with us.”

Football will always be governed by those sliding-door moments, though. Score, don’t score. Second yellow card, apologetic shrug. Will Hughes had already been booked when he committed what looked like a bookable offence on Cole Palmer just after the break. Despite Maresca’s protests, Hughes stayed on the pitch long enough to be replaced by Cheick Doucouré, a replacement that changed the complexion of the match.

“I don’t think there is much to add because it was clear to everyone that it was a second yellow card,” said a frustrated Maresca. “The only one who thinks otherwise is the referee and he is the one who decides. They would have gone to the number 10 and the game would have changed but the referee saw it differently.”

“We deserved to win the match. We controlled the game. Overall, we deserved to win the match. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. The game was very good, with and without the ball. After conceding the goal, we lost our way.”

Certainly, up until that point, Chelsea had had the ability to dominate, with Palmer marshaling a more cohesive unit and Enzo Fernandez helping to orchestrate clear patterns for them to play through. Palmer shot just wide of the far post after 12 minutes, but it was his assist that allowed even Jackson to score the opener after 25 minutes to end a flowing box-to-box move that started with Levi Colwill and involved some good work from Noni Madueke before Palmer could open the scoring.

Crystal Palace had to wait until Hughes was withdrawn early in the second half to make a significant impact. Three minutes after coming on, Doucouré had a shot on target blocked from a set-piece that had been half-cleared, but the rebound fell to Eberechi Eze and he took his time to curl the ball in off the far post.

Suddenly the visitors were opening the scoring and Robert Sanchez was relieved to see Daichi Kamada's fierce 18-yard shot in the 77th minute fly to safety after slipping through his fingers on the goal-line.

Jackson’s two late chances could have denied Palace their first point of the season but Oliver Glasner, the manager, felt the reward was well deserved. “I have a huge amount of respect for this group,” he said. “I know their character. We had 14 first-team players today with some injuries and the new players came in on the last day so they couldn’t play today. In this situation it’s really amazing how they stick together. I’m very proud to be the manager of this amazing group.”

Maresca, meanwhile, has to juggle managing expectations and a dressing room full of players on ridiculously long contracts. “Probably one thing to be clear about is that three years ago Chelsea won the Champions League,” he said. “Now it’s not that kind of Chelsea. So now sometimes if you don’t win it’s normal.”