The left-sided player’s fourth Palace appearance since arriving on loan from Chelsea marked his first competitive start since March 2024 for the Blues – but Chilwell says he felt sharp throughout Palace’s 3-1 win.
“It was great to be back,” the 28-year-old said. “A few of the boys asked me how long it had been after the game, and I said roughly about a year! It was great to be out there – I felt fit, I felt good.
“You can train as hard as you want every day, and do big training sessions and try and get as much out of it as you can, but there's nothing like playing a match.
"Of course, coming into the game today, first start, you always wonder how it's going to go, if you are going to be as sharp as you would like to imagine you are.
“Thankfully, today, I felt really good and got into some good attacking positions. I think a few of the chances I got today, if they were in a few weeks' time, I would have buried them, but again, that's just trying to get up to match fitness.
“The fact that I'm getting in the positions and feeling good literally even the 90th minute today, trying to run in behind and get crosses in… my body felt great, so that's good.”
