Despite handing Enzo Fernandez and Mykhailo Mudryk their first Chelsea starts, Graham Potter's side were held to a 0-0 draw by Fulham at Stamford Bridge on Friday night.
The stalemate leaves the Blues nine points behind the Premier League top four but the feeling of disappointment swept across the stadium when Stuart Atwell blew the final whistle. A goal never really looked like coming for Chelsea with Kai Havertz clipping the post in the first half before David Datro Fofana was denied his first goal since his £10million move from Molde.
There were plenty of positives from the evening. Fernandez did extremely well in the deep-lying playmaker role, two days after arriving to England, whilst Noni Madueke left a good impression on his Chelsea debut. Keeping Fulham out also means Kepa Arrizabalaga has kept three consecutive clean sheets.
READ MORE: Four things learned as Enzo Fernandez debut vindicates Potter but doesn't solve Chelsea problem
By the time they return to action - next week to West Ham - Potter's men could find themselves 12 points behind Manchester United in the top four. The tough task of securing UEFA Champions League football could prove to be too heavy with 17 games remaining.
Here's how the national media reacted to the draw.
Joe Krishnan writes: "When Chelsea were deep in possession, Fernandez demanded the ball just to gain a bit of familiarity and looked completely unfazed, if there was any chance he would, by the occasion of his debut. Self-aware of everything around him, constantly scanning the potential threats in front but also behind him. It seems spending so much time with Lionel Messi in Qatar has allowed him to sprout wing mirrors, identifying the dangers in and around him without even looking.
"As some might expect, there were some instances where Fernandez slightly switched off and it nearly cost them on one occasion when Andreas Pereira escaped his radar. The attacking midfielder struck his effort well but the ever-reliable Kepa Arrizabalaga pulled off a fine save to tip it wide.
"He has had his detractors in the past few days, but Fernandez would get his moment to prove why he is rated so highly by his new coach and team-mates. He picked up the ball, lofted a brilliant pass into Mount who set up Kai Havertz and the German - if not for a slight touch from Tim Ream - would have surely scored.
"That. That is why they signed him. The fans sounded their appreciation and it just seemed to inject a bit of confidence into the debutant. They knew this is the player the club pulled out all the stops to sign was the real deal after all, despite some voices of doubt in recent days.
"In the first half alone, he had 59 touches of the ball, completed 39 of his 45 passes - or 87 per cent - and won all but one of his seven duels. Not bad for a player who had experienced only one full training session with his new club."
Jacob Steinberg writes: "Perhaps it would have been more interesting if Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali had just stood in the centre circle for 90 minutes, acting out their negotiations with Benfica over Enzo Fernández on deadline day. Instead, no doubt to the disappointment of those who reckon winning a transfer window actually counts for anything, there was a game that will linger in the memory only because of Chelsea’s abject failure to produce the kind of football befitting of a spend of over £500m on new signings.
"It must have been quite the comedown for the hierarchy. They gazed down from the posh seats, waiting in vain for any sign of a spark from Graham Potter’s side, and suffered along with the rest of Stamford Bridge. The boos at full-time said everything. Chelsea, drifting along in 9th place after two wins from their last 12 games, were bland, directionless and leaden. Positives? Fernández, who was tidy in midfield, albeit without ever quite showing why he cost £106.8m. David Datro Fofana almost scored. The defence kept a clean sheet.
"Being generous, this is merely the start of a rebuild. But Potter needs to inspire more from Mykhailo Mudryk, who struggled before being removed at half-time, and he must find a way to make Chelsea’s attack less plodding. A few close misses aside, they barely troubled Marco Silva’s committed and diligent Fulham team, who moved up to sixth after restricting their neighbours to a single shot on target.
"It was impossible to know what Chelsea were going to produce after spending January flaunting their wealth with their frenzied shopping spree. The window had passed by in a blur, eight new players arriving, culminating in the capture of Fernández on deadline day, but whether any of it is going to work is another thing. Opinions remain divided.
"It falls to Potter to untangle this mess. He has been helped by Chelsea’s injury crisis easing, with Reece James returning at right-back, and he could take encouragement from Fernández taking little time to adjust. Rustiness did not appear to be a problem for the man pulling the strings for Chelsea in midfield. Fernández was quickly involved, catching the eye with his switches of play, even showing appetite for the battle when he refused to let Aleksandar Mitrovic intimidate him early on.
"The home fans liked their new buy. It was Fernández who sparked one of Chelsea’s better moment of the opening period, his ball over the top sending Mason Mount through to cross for Kai Havertz, who stretched and fired over from close range. But clear chances were few and far between. Ziyech went on a run down the right and produced a comical mis-hit. Conor Gallagher ran around a lot in midfield. Mount kept messing up the final pass. Mudryk never found an opportunity to run at Kenny Tete. Havertz drifted offside a lot."
Sam Wallace writes: "At least no-one could argue that the £280 million spent in the January window has not improved this Graham Potter team – 25 days earlier they lost to the same Fulham side, although a goalless draw was not what anyone at Chelsea had in mind when the epic spending was sanctioned.
"Enzo Fernandez, British football’s most expensive player, made his debut and the £106 million man must realise it will be a while yet before this Chelsea team plays the way he was doubtless promised it would. Up in the expensive seats, the men who financed this great menagerie of expensive footballers were left to wonder at the game’s stubborn refusal to bend to their will.
"Todd Boehly, and his fellow king of the Chelsea consortium, Behdad Eghbali, have bet the house on this team, and so nights like these will be uncomfortable. The sting will have been in the mediocrity of this Chelsea side which, for all the investment, does lack an orthodox striker. Pierre-Emerick Aubemeyang, left out the Champions League squad, was pictured on a break in Milan. Potter said the player had been given the weekend off.
"Many of the new signings played for Potter on this evening as starters and substitutes – not just Fernandez, but Benoit Badiashile, Mykhailo Mudryk, David Datro Fofana and Noni Madueke, for whom this was also a debut. There were returns from injury for Reece James and Ben Chilwell, a late substitute. The squad is coming back together, a vast clan of talented players summoned from all over Europe, yet the results are barely changing. This draw means it is two wins for Chelsea in their last eight Premier League games.
"On the touchline before the game was another of them, the loan signing Joao Felix who was sent off in the corresponding fixture at Craven Cottage last month and will return from suspension for the visit to West Ham on Saturday. That feels like a game Potter has to win – along with all the other games he has had to win. More difficult decisions await him in team selection, and whichever way he turns, all he can be sure of is that someone will be upset.
"Potter has already made 64 changes to his teams in his first 15 Premier League games – second only as a record to his predecessor Thomas Tuchel. There were seven on this night. This is a side that is playing for the first time and is being constructed game by game by its new manager. Fascinating for the rest of us but an almighty challenge for Potter."
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