Chelsea will be looking to end their three-game winning streak on Saturday afternoon when they travel across the capital to take on Crystal Palace.
The Blues begin the new calendar year with a trip to Selhurst Park after a disappointing end to 2024. A goalless draw against Everton was followed by disappointing defeats against Fulham and Ipswich Town, which saw Enzo Maresca lose ground to league leaders Liverpool.
They will be tested by a resurgent Palace team at the weekend, with Oliver Glasner’s men having endured a disappointing start to the season over the last two months. However, the Eagles are far from out of the relegation battle and are only five points above relegation.
The spoils were shared in the second leg in September, but Chelsea had won the last 14 meetings in this round. Palace have not won this tie since the 2017/18 season.
Here is 90 minutes Guide to an all London affair.
Crystal Palace vs Chelsea H2H record (last five games)
Current form (all competitions)
Crystal Palace | Chelsea |
|---|---|
Crystal Palace 2-1 Southampton – 12/29/24 | Ipswich 2-0 Chelsea – 12/30/24 |
Bournemouth 0-0 Crystal Palace – 26/12/24 | Chelsea 1-2 Fulham – 12/26/24 |
Crystal Palace 1-5 Arsenal – 12/21/24 | Everton 0-0 Chelsea – 12/22/24 |
Arsenal 3-2 Crystal Palace – 12/18/24 | Chelsea 5-1 Shamrock Rovers – 12/19/24 |
Brighton 1-3 Crystal Palace – 12/15/24 | Chelsea 2-1 Brentford – 12/15/24 |
country | TV channel/live stream |
|---|---|
United Kingdom | Radio updates and commentary on The Pitch Prospect and BBC Radio 5 Live |
United States | peacock |
Canada | fuboTV Canada, Fubo Sports Network 5 Canada |
Glasner will have the majority of his first-team squad available for Chelsea’s visit, but he will be without Blues loanee Trevoh Chalobah, who is not eligible to play against 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 noticeably missing in the middle of the park. Will Hughes is unavailable as he needed stitches after the win against Southampton.
Crystal Palace’s expected line-up against Chelsea (3-4-2-1): Henderson; Richards, Lacroix, Guehi; Munoz, Lerma, Doucoure, Mitchell; Sarr, Eze; Mateta.
Chelsea will be without Benoit Badiashile and Wesley Fofana at centre-back – the latter now suffering from a season-ending injury – and will likely also be without Romeo Lavia in defensive midfield. The Belgian has been missing since the 4-3 win against Tottenham Hotspur due to a thigh injury.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Carney Chukwuemeka are also expected to be missing from midfield, while Mykhailo Mudryk remains unavailable after being provisionally suspended for failing a drugs test.
Predicted line-up for Chelsea against Crystal Palace (4-2-3-1): Sanchez; Gusto, Tosin, Colwill, Cucurella; Caicedo, Fernandez; Madueke, Palmer, Neto; Jackson.
It could be another frustrating afternoon for Maresca’s men, who are hoping to turn things around after a minor blip late last year. They have found it difficult to score goals lately, scoring just once in their last three games.
Palace have the ability to frustrate in possession with their five-man defense and will be difficult to break down. They also have the attacking power needed to hurt Chelsea on the counter-attack, with Eberechi Eze and Ismaila Sarr likely to be crucial in picking up those much-needed points.