Newly-crowned Club World Champions, Chelsea face a tough Premier League return with a trip to Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.
Crystal Palace could climb to tenth with a win if Southampton and Aston Villa both lose elsewhere, whereas Chelsea will stay third no matter what happens here.
Team News
Cheikhou Kouyate is set to return for Crystal Palace after missing their last two matches following his return from international duty at Africa Cup of Nations, due to fitness issues as he adapted back to the the English environment.
Nathan Ferguson (hamstring) and Conor Gallagher (ineligible) remain absent.
Chelsea could be without Ruben Loftus-Cheek because he is struggling to recover from a knock.
Reece James (hamstring), Ben Chilwell (knee) and Mason Mount (ankle) remain ruled out.
Stat Attack
- Crystal Palace have lost each of their last eight meetings against Chelsea (L8).
- Chelsea have won three of their last four trips to Selhurst Park (W3, L1).
- Christian Pulisic has scored three goals in his last two appearances for Chelsea against Palace.
- Joel Ward has produced more touches on the ball than any other Palace player in the Premier League this season, with 1,772 touches in 23 appearances.
- Antonio Rudiger has produced more passes than any other Chelsea player in the Premier League this season, having created 1,570 passes in 23 league appearances.
Prediction
Crystal Palace will be keen to build on a solid display at Brentford last weekend where they were more solid defensively, although they certainly will need to be clinical here after wasting numerous attacking opportunities in that game.
Chelsea meanwhile are back in domestic action after successfully winning the Club World Cup but they weren’t exactly impressive, with a lack of quality in attack and finishing chances despite dominating possession so improvement is a must.
This game therefore should be interesting because Palace will be smelling a surprise victory if they’re at their best and score first, otherwise I fancy Chelsea to have the edge despite not looking impressive so far this month.
Prediction: Crystal Palace 1-1 Chelsea
Result: Crystal Palace 0-1 Chelsea