Chelsea vs Crystal Palace – Preview, H2H, Line-ups, Prediction | FA Cup 2022

Thomas Tuchel-Chelsea-UEFA Champions League Final
Thomas Tuchel-Chelsea-UEFA Champions League Final | Photo Credit: IMAGO

Chelsea will face off with Crystal Palace this Sunday at Wembley in the semi-final of the FA Cup

Venue: Wembley Stadium (London)

Key Statistics

Chelsea have scored nine goals in their last two games.

The Blues have kept four clean sheets in their last ten games.

Crystal Palace have lost just one of their last eight games (five wins and two draws). 

They have progressed to the final of the FA Cup in two of their last three appearances at this stage.

Head to head

Chelsea have won their last nine head-to-head games against Crystal Palace.

Latest performances in all competitions

Chelsea: W-W-L-L-W

Crystal Palace: L-W-W-D-W

Chelsea 

After their exertions in the Champions League last Tuesday, Chelsea turn their attention to the FA Cup this Sunday where they are looking to book a place in the final.

The Blues defeated Real Madrid 3-2 at the Santiago Bernabeu, but that was not enough to qualify them for the semi-final of the UCL after a 3-1 loss in the first leg at Stamford Bridge.

So with their UCL title defence now ended and with no chance of winning the Premier League, Chelsea will now look to focus on winning the FA Cup, which is their only route to a trophy this season. 

But after a 120 minutes game in Madrid, tired legs could come into the equation, giving Crystal Palace the advantage. However, Thomas Tuchel’s side remains a strong betting favourite to progress here. The bookmakers are rarely wrong when it comes to Chelsea’s chances too, as they boast a 94% unbeaten rate when starting as favourites between Premier League (PL) and FA Cup duties this season (W22, D7, L2).

Possible Chelsea starting line-up

Edouard Mendy; César Azpilicueta, Thiago Silva, Antonio Rudiger; Reece James, Marcos Alonso, N’golo Kante, Matteo Kovacic; Mason Mount, Timo Werner, Kai Havertz.

Injured: Ben Chilwell, Callum Hudson-Odoi 

Doubtful: Ross Barkley, Romelu Lukaku

Suspended: None 

Crystal Palace 

Crystal Palace will look to extend their fairytale run in the FA Cup when they play Chelsea in Wembley on Sunday.

The Eagles booked their place in this round of the tournament by beating Everton 4-0 in the previous round. They have been one of the better teams in the country since the turn of the year and are, by their standard, punching beyond their weight.

Much of that has been down to the work done by manager Patrick Vieira, who has made Palace a more exciting side to watch. The Frenchman has built his team around a crop of young, exciting players who are ready to die for him.

He will hope that his boys will make him and the Palace fans proud by beating Chelsea under the Wembley arch. These two first met in the FA Cup back in 1906 with Palace securing a 7-1 win, a result that remains their best ever head-to-head victory. 

However, they come into this tie on the back of a 2-1 loss to Leicester City; a loss that wasn’t the ideal preparation for this big clash, though. But that loss was the first defeat Patrick Vieira’s men had suffered in eight games (W5, D2). And so they will be high on confidence that they can upset the odds, especially as they’ve progressed to the final in two of their last three appearances at this stage.

Their ability to be a tough nut to crack for some of the league’s traditionally better sides could be key here. This season, Vieira’s men have already avoided defeat against Manchester City (one win and one draw) and Arsenal twice (one win and one draw), while beating Spurs 3-0 too. 

Possible Crystal Palace starting line-up

Vicente Guaita; Nathaniel Clyne, Joachim Andersen, Marc Guehi, Joel Ward; Cheikhou Kouyate, Jeffrey Schlupp; Eberechi Eze, Jean-Philippe Mateta; Jordan Ayew, Wilfried Zaha.

Injured: Nathan Ferguson, James McArthur

Doubtful: Michael Olise, Tyrick Mitchell, Will Hughes

Suspended: None

Prediction

Chelsea 1-2 Crystal Palace