Chelsea face Crystal Palace at Stamford Bridge in a festive London derby encounter.
Victory would see Chelsea reclaim tenth in the table, whilst Palace can go 13th with a win if Brentford lose elsewhere.
Team News
Cole Palmer and Raheem Sterling are both suspended for Chelsea after the pair picked up their fifth bookings of the season in a 2-1 defeat at Wolves on Xmas Eve.
Moises Caicedo (illness) and Enzo Fernandez (hernia) are doubtful for selection.
Marc Cucurella (ankle), Trevoh Chalobah, Ben Chilwell, Reece James (all hamstring), Wesley Fofana (ACL), Robert Sanchez and Carney Chukwuemeka (both knee) remain ruled out.
Palace have no fresh injury concerns to report after their 1-1 draw against Brighton.
Sam Johnstone (calf), Rob Holding (ankle), Jesurun Rak-Sakyi, Joel Ward (both hamstring), Odsonne Edouard (knee) and Cheick Docoure (Achilles) remain absent.
When is Kick-Off?
Chelsea host Crystal Palace at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday 27 December at 7:30pm GMT, live on Amazon Prime in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Chelsea have won each of their last 11 league meetings against Crystal Palace (W11).
- Palace have lost each of their last six league visits to Chelsea (L6).
- Chelsea have scored 10 goals in their last four meetings at home to Palace without conceding (W4).
- Nicolas Jackson has registered more shots on target than any other Chelsea player this season (19).
- Two of Palace’s last four away goals have been scored by Michael Olise.
Prediction
At this stage of the season, Chelsea really should be finding their groove but they just continue to be inconsistent with more wasteful end product, which was evident in a positive attacking performance at Wolves and was duly punished with poor second-half defending.
Palace meanwhile put in a strong effort in their draw against Brighton but often had their own end product issues despite a clinical header, which was eventually punished after they went defensive too early in the second half but they can come into this game full of confidence.
Mauricio Pochettino’s Blues though do seem more confident at home when it comes to converting their chances, so I do expect Palace to go defensive and try to play on the counter but Chelsea really should edge this even without Palmer and Sterling who will be heavy losses.
Prediction: Chelsea 1-0 Crystal Palace
Result: Chelsea 2-1 Crystal Palace