Jadon Sancho was watching on next to co-owner Behdad Eghbali and the two sporting directors who signed him - Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart - from the directors' box.
There was excitement as he was announced last night but the familiar question will remain - how good would this team be with a world class striker?
Nicolas Jackson worked hard and scored the opening goal but he also missed two late chances to win the match.
Chelsea threw everything they had at Crystal Palace in the second half as Joao Felix, Mykhailo Mudryk and Christopher Nkunku came off the bench.