TRICKY VAR ROBS EZE

TRAWL through the smallprint and you'll find a law so obscure that only football anoraks and geeks will know it.

- by MIKE WALTERS

Full marks to VAR nitpicker James Bell for calling it - but he denied Eberechi Eze a dream parting gift to Crystal Palace at sunlit Stamford Bridge.

England midfielder Eze is expected to complete a £55m move to Tottenham this week - and in a parallel universe, he might have gone out in a blaze of glory.

Instead, his vicious free-kick was chalked off and Chelsea, who had the cutting edge of rusty garden shears, escaped with a point.

Eagles defender Chris Richards, taking a more reflective view after the game, said: "Everyone in the stadium thought it was a goal, but you live and die by VAR - and today we died from it" They may be world champions, but for long periods the Blues looked disjointed, leggy, stale or all three.

Never a club to whisper their achievements where a giant billboard on the back end of a hotel is available, boss Enzo Maresca's side took one more curtain call for winning the Club World Cup.

But apart from Trevoh Chalobah and substitute Andrey Santos shovelling decent chances over the top, and Liam Delap scuffing another like a municipal golf club hacker, they lacked sharpness.