KICK IN THE WALLS

Spurs-bound Eze denied parting gift to Palace as brilliant free-kick chalked off by obscure law

- MIKE WALTERS

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

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

England midfielder Eze (above) is expected to complete a £55million 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 looked short of a gallop and had the cutting edge of rusty garden shears, escaped with a point.

Eagles defender Chris Richards, taking a more reflective view after the game, admitted: "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.