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The Blues' worse miss came when Frank Lampard played in Boudewijn Zenden beyond the last man but the Dutchman screwed his first-time shot wide from an acute angle.
Newcomer Robert Huth had an even easier task to break the deadlock when he peeled off the back, but although in acres of space he made a hash of a header from just eight yards.
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink brought more out of his fellow countryman when Edwin Van der Sar was forced to get down quickly and hang on to a low drive from inside the box after 22 minutes.
For all that Carlo Cudicini was by far the busier keeper.
The Italian's finest moment came two minutes before half time when he flung himself to his left to turn a cleverly worked shot from Junichi Inamoto away.
The Japanese international wriggled past the Blues defence before that and set up a glorious chance for Steed Malbranque, but the Frenchman's square pass was behind Barry Hayles and the chance went begging.
If Huth had earlier wasted a golden opportunity, Hayles will not want to see his 36th minute effort again.
The Fulham striker was gifted a rebound off the back of William Gallas but with the goal at his mercy Hayles skied his left-foot blast into row Z.
In the second half Chelsea could and should have got the scoreboard moving as Hasselbaink was thwarted twice in his attempts to convert two low right-foot efforts from right-wing crosses.
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Huth then tried his luck from long range but although the shot was on target, Van der Sar was once again equal to the effort.
In contrast, Cudicini's heart must have stopped in the closing stages when Gallas slipped to allow Luis Boa Morte to bear down on goal. However, the defender made a swift recovery to kill all chances of allowing the 16,000 plus fans the chance to celebrate any type of goal.