Crystal Palace preview: Time for our Belgians to step up


Date - 14 October, 2017
Time -19:30 IST
Venue - Selhurst Park, London

Our next Premier League assignment takes us to Selhurst Park to take on 20th-placed Crystal Palace. The Eagles are yet to score a single goal, and will be looking to avoid becoming the first club in the history of the Premier League to lose each of its first 8 games.

For Chelsea, it is a question of redemption, as we look to bounce back from the 1-0 defeat to Manchester City last time out. We are now 7 points behind the two Manchester clubs at the top, and hardly have any margin for error if we want to have any chance at successfully defending our title. This was the exact same point in the season at which we began our 13-match unbeaten run last year.

Click here to see what the Amdavadi Blues think our chances are of repeating that feat. 

This corresponding fixture was one of those 13 matches last year, when a header from Diego Costa was enough for all three points. Palace, did however, shock the world by scoring a 2-1 win at Stamford Bridge on April Fool's Day earlier this year.

Despite our shaky home form, we have been brilliant on the road. In fact, Conte is looking to become the first Chelsea manager to record 6+ wins away from home on two separate occasions, in only his second campaign in charge. 

Team news

"Team news? Bad news!", was what Antonio Conte had to say in his pre-match press conference on Friday. 

We will be without N'Golo Kante and Alvaro Morata, as feared, while Danny Drinkwater is still not ready for a return.This means that we only have two midfield options - Cesc Fabregas and Tiemoue Bakayoko, other than youngsters Ethan Ampadu and Kyle Scott. Conte could also, of course, experiment with David Luiz in the centre of the park. The Brazilian returns after a three-match ban following a red card against Arsenal last month. 

It will also be interesting to see if the Italian goes with Michy Batshuayi up front, or opts to play either Hazard of Pedro as a false number 9. Both Bats and Hazard will need to step it up in the next month or so, as replacing Morata is going to be no easy task whatsoever. The Spaniard has fit right into our system, scoring 7 times already in all competitions.

There will, of course, be one eye on the Champions League game against Roma in midweek.

Fans' thoughts

Anmol Swamy - 

"No N'Golo, No Morata. But  then Palace are not exactly flying are they? I think we will win considering our away form but I don't know where the goals with come from. Going for a 0-2 victory."

Prediction

We aren't exactly in a comfortable position, but like Anmol says, neither are Palace. They have been dismal so far, and we have the perfect opportunity for a confidence-boosting win. Their best player thus far, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, is ineligible for this one because obviously, he's on loan from Stamford Bridge.

A comfortable 3-0 win with Hazard and Batshuayi on the scoresheet, please.

Crystal Palace 0-3 Chelsea

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