Chelsea are looking to end their three-match winless run on Saturday afternoon when they make the trip across the capital to face Crystal Palace.
The Blues start the new calendar year away to Selhurst Park after a disappointing end to 2024. A goalless draw with Everton was followed by defeats to Fulham and Ipswich Town, which saw Enzo Maresca lose ground to first-team Liverpool.
They will be tested at the weekend by an up-and-coming Palace side, with Oliver Glasner’s players shaking off a disappointing start to the season over the last two months. However, the Eagles are by no means out of their relegation battle, just five points above the drop.
The spoils were shared in the reverse fixture back in September, but Chelsea have won their previous 14 meetings in the round-robin. Palace have not won this match since the 2017/18 season.
Here 90 minutes a guide to the London affair.
Crystal Palace vs Chelsea H2H record (last five matches)
Current form (all competitions)
|
The Crystal Palace |
Chelsea |
|---|---|
|
Crystal Palace 2-1 Southampton – 29.12.24 |
Ipswich 2-0 Chelsea – 30.12.24 |
|
Bournemouth 0-0 Crystal Palace – 26.12.24 |
Chelsea 1-2 Fulham – 26.12.24 |
|
Crystal Palace 1-5 Arsenal – 21.12.24 |
Everton 0-0 Chelsea – 22.12.24 |
|
Arsenal 3-2 Crystal Palace – 18.12.24 |
Chelsea 5-1 Shamrock Rovers – 19.12.24 |
|
Brighton 1-3 Crystal Palace – 15.12.24 |
Chelsea 2-1 Brentford – 15.12.24 |
|
Earth |
TV channel/live broadcast |
|---|---|
|
Great Britain |
Radio updates and commentary on talkSPORT and BBC Radio 5 live |
|
United States |
Peacock |
|
Canada |
fuboTV Canada, Fubo Sports Network 5 Canada |
Glasner has the majority of his first-team squad available for the visit of Chelsea but will miss Blues loanee Trevoh Chalobah, who is ineligible to face his parent club. He will likely be replaced by Chris Richards or the returning Chadi Riad.
Adam Wharton and Matheus Franca are also missing for Palace, with the former notably absent in the center of the park. Will Hughes is unavailable after having to have stitches in his foot following the win against Southampton.
Predicted line-up of Crystal Palace against Chelsea (3-4-2-1): Henderson; Richards, Lacroix, Guehi; Munoz, Lerma, Doucoure, Mitchell; Sarr, Eze; Mateta.
Chelsea missing Benoit Badiashile and Wesley Fofana at centre-back – the latter now facing s season-ending injury – and will also likely be without Romeo Lavia in defensive midfield. The Belgian was absent from the 4-3 win over Tottenham Hotspur with a hamstring problem.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Carney Chukwuemeka are also likely to be absent from midfield, while Mykhailo Mudryk remains unavailable after being provisionally banned for failing a doping test.
Predicted line-up Chelsea vs Crystal Palace (4-2-3-1): Sánchez; Gusto, Tosin, Colwill, Cucurella; Caicedo, Fernandez; Madueke, Palmer, Neto; Jackson.
It could prove to be another frustrating afternoon for Maresca’s players, who will be hoping to turn things around after a narrow miss at the end of last year. It’s been hard for them to score recently, scoring just once in their last three matches.
Palace have the ability to frustrate their five-man defense out of possession and will be hard to break open. They also boast the attacking prowess to hurt Chelsea on the counter, with Eberechi Eze and Ismaila Sarr likely to be key in their bid to earn some much-needed points.
Prediction: Crystal Palace 1-1 Chelsea
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