Chelsea vs Crystal Palace: Premier League match preview

Chelsea will host Roy Hodgson’s Crystal Palace in the 12:30 kick off on Saturday, 9th November at Stamford Bridge.

The Blues won 2-1 away at Watford in their last Premier League meeting, whereas Palace lost 2-0 at home to Leicester City.

This is Crystal Palace's fourth game in a row against one of the Premier League's current top five, and the way Chelsea are going it could be as tricky as any of them.

The fixture will be tight to call though, with Palace sitting in 9th position with 15 points, whilst Chelsea sit in 4th, 8 points adrift from their upcoming opponent.

Team News

N’Golo Kante is fully fit after not being selected to play in Chelsea’s midweek champions league draw against Ajax, but Frank Lampard’s side will be missing Ross Barkley with an ankle injury and Jorginho faces his 1 game ban for accumulating 5 yellow cards.

Furthermore, the home side may be without young playmaker Mason Mount who has a similar injury to Barkley-Mount,20, has 4 goals and 2 assists for Chelsea in his debut season with the first team.

Crystal Palace winger Andros Townsend has recovered from his muscle injury he sustained when playing against Arsenal, but the away side may not have Gary Cahill or Cheikhou Kouyate who both had recent head injuries.

Head to Head

Crystal Palace have only won two of their 17 top-flight away fixtures against Chelsea, both by 2-1 score lines in August 2015 and April 2017 (D5, L10).

Since returning to the Premier League in 2013-14, Crystal Palace have won four of the 12 meetings - double their amount of victories from 22 previous top-flight encounters.

They can win six consecutive Premier League games for the first time since the end of their most recent title-winning season in May 2017.

However, Chelsea have triumphed in just one of their five fixtures this season against teams in the top half of the table (D2, L2).

Crystal Palace are winless in three Premier League matches (D1, L2), conceding six goals.

However, they have registered eight away league victories in 2019. Only Manchester City (12) and Liverpool (10) have been more successful on the road.

Prediction

Chelsea manager Frank Lampard was recently announced the Premier League’s manager of the month for October, but I don’t think his side will be awarded any points this weekend.

Crystal Palace had started the season well, but as of late have struggled and I think what better way for Roy Hodgson’s side to get back to winning ways than playing an inexperienced, youthful Chelsea side.

Yes, Lampard’s faith in youth has paid off, but Hodgson’s managerial experience will be the decisive factor in tomorrows match-Hodgson will be managing his 300th Premier League match.

Even with the introduction of Kante in the Chelsea starting 11, I believe Palace will hold on a hit the home side on the break, but again if Chelsea come away with 3 points then surely club owners will be starting to look at former players with a lack of managerial experience to become their manager-the job he’s doing is excellent.

Prediction: Chelsea 0-1 Crystal Palace