Chelsea will be keen to make a comeback after their defeat against Manchester City in the last weekend. They will face Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Saturday in the Premier League. Chelsea are currently situated at 4th position in the League Table with 13 points in their 7 matches so far. They will now face the lower ranked teams in the League Table in upcoming few matches. Antonio Conte will try to utilize this advantage as well as possible but the injury of Morata and Kante will cause some headaches for him.
Palace are at the bottom of the table with no points in their 7 encounters so far. They were not able to score a single goal also in those matches. But Roy Hodgson confirmed that they would not give Chelsea the opportunity to get easy points and the manager will be more confident with the return of Wilfred Zaha from the injury.
Team News :
Crystal Palace :
Hennessy had got a knock in the practice time of Palace. So substitute Goalkeeper Speroni is expected to start at the Palace Goal. Fosu-Mensah, Tomkins, Sakho and Can Aanholt are expected to start as defenders against Chelsea.
Zaha is expected to return in this match. He will be in the starting line up of Palace along with Milivojevic, Cabaye, Puncheon and Townsend are expected to start against the tough component like Chelsea. Sako will lead Palace from the upfront.
Chelsea :
N Golo Kante had suffered from a Grade 1 hamstring injury during the International Break and could be out till the beginning of 2018. Danny Drinkwater is not fit yet to feature in the starting line up. Alvaro Morata is also facing an injury and will miss the clash against Palace.
Courtois will be in the Chelsea Goal against Palace while Azpilicueta, David Luiz and Cahill are expected to be chosen as three central defenders for this match. Moses and Alonso will play as the two wingbacks. Fabregas and Bakayoko will be in the heart of the midfield. Batshuayi, Pedro and Hazard are expected to lead them from the upfront.
Possible Starting Eleven :
Crystal Palace : (4-5-1)
Goalkeeper : Speroni
Defenders : Fosu-Mensah, Tomkins, Sakho, Van Aanholt.
Midfielders : Zaha, Cabaye, Milivojevic, Puncheon, Townsend.
Attackers : Sako.
Chelsea : (3-4-3)
Goalkeeper : Courtois
Defenders : Azpilicueta, David Luiz, Cahill.
Midfielders : Alonso, Fabregas, Bakayoko, Moses.
Attackers : Pedro, Batshuayi, Hazard.
My Score Prediction :
Crystal Palace 0-3 Chelsea.
With the form that they are in at the moment, the game should be an easy win for Chelsea based on the level of performances that they have put in so far this term. The Blues have looked good, as they look to retain their league title under Conte. They have lost a few key players to injury and will still want to take back all three points from this match, as they look to catch up with the Manchester based clubs, who are currently ruling the points table.
It will be a tactical battle between the Italian manager and former England manager Roy Hodgson, though with the quality that he has, Conte should come out on top rather easily. Unless….
