After their Club World Cup exertions, Chelsea will turn their attention to the Premier League as they travel to Selhurst Park on Saturday to face London neighbours Crystal Palace.
Venue: Selhurst Park
Key Statistics
Crystal Palace are winless in their last five PL games (D3, L2).
They have lost each of the last eight games with Chelsea by an aggregate scoreline of 22-5.
The hosts have conceded exactly three times in each of their last two home league games.
Chelsea have won just one of their last five PL away matches (D2, L2).
The Blues are winless in their last two PL away games (D1, L2).
They have lost only one of their last 18 games in all competitions (W11, D6).
Head to head
In the Premier League, Crystal Palace and Chelsea have met 25 times. Chelsea have the superior record with 19 wins and 54 goals, while Palace have just four wins and 19 goals (D2).
Latest performances in all competitions
Crystal Palace: D-D-W-L-D
Chelsea: W-W-W-W-D
Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace’s poor run of form continued last weekend as they were held to a goalless draw with Brentford.
The hosts have seen their early-season promise disappear over the last weeks. Apart from being winless in their last five league outings (D3, L2), the Eagles are also struggling to keep opponents at bay as they have conceded three times in each of their last two homes games.
Manager Patrick Vieira admitted that they need “a plan” if the mid-table side are to make further progression and he will be hoping for a response here.
The hosts currently sit in 13th place after 24 games (W5, D11, L8). Their aim for the season is to finish as high up as possible. That aim will be defeated if they don’t win games at a more regular rate.
Possible Crystal Palace starting line-up
Vicente Guaita; Joel Ward, Andersen, Marc Guehi, Tyrick Mitchell; Will Hughes, Connor Gallagher, Jeffrey Schlupp; Michael Olise, Odsonne Edouard, Wilfried Zaha.
Injured: Nathan Ferguson
Doubtful: Cheikhou Kouyate
Suspended: None
Chelsea
After picking up their first Club World Cup, Chelsea will look to pick up another valuable three points in the Premier League where they are still in the title race.
Despite being 16 points behind Manchester City, the Blues still entertain hopes of closing the gap.
However, they have won just one of their last five PL games (D3, L1) and have kept only one clean sheet in that period. They have also won just one of their last five away league games (D2, L2) suggesting that their current form does not inspire confidence in their fans.
However, if history is anything to go by they should be able to win this game as all four English teams that competed in the CWC since it adopted its current format in 2005 ended up winning their first PL match after returning.
Their record against Palace will also inspire confidence as they have won each of their last eight meetings with them by an aggregate scoreline of 22-5.
Possible Chelsea starting line-up
Edouard Mendy; Cesar Azpilicueta, Andreas Christensen, Antonio Rudiger, Malang Sarr; N’golo Kante, Jorginho, Mateo Kovacic; Romelu Lukaku, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Kai Havertz.
Injured: Ben Chilwell, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Mason Mount
Doubtful: Reece James
Suspended: None
Prediction
Crystal Palace 1-1 Chelsea
