Chelsea vs Crystal Palace predictions: Blues too strong for Eagles

Gareth Freeman
Spotlight
Enzo Maresca's Chelsea should be confident after their 6-2 win at Wolves last time out in the Premier League
Enzo Maresca's Chelsea should be confident after their 6-2 win at Wolves last time out in the Premier League

- Chelsea won 6-2 at Wolves in the last round of Premier League fixtures
- Crystal Palace have lost both of their games
- Recommended bet:
3-way handicap, Chelsea 0-1

Chelsea have made a decent start to the season under new boss Enzo Maresca with three points from two league games, as well as securing a place in the Conference League.

Crystal Palace could use a boost after opening the campaign with back-to-back defeats for the first time since 2017-18 — but they have a poor recent record against their hosts and may struggle to get any kind of result at Stamford Bridge. 

Team news

Chelsea landed Jadon Sancho on loan from Manchester United this week but the visit of Crystal Palace probably comes too soon for the forward.

Romeo Lavia and Reece James are injured, but Pedro Neto, Wesley Fofana and Malo Gusto should return for the Blues after being rested at Servette in Europe in midweek.

The visitors will be without injured duo Chadi Riad and Matheus Franca but Marc Guehi could be involved after seeing a summer exit fall through.

The stats

It has been a tough summer for Oliver Glasner with Crystal Palace having lost their opening two league games
It has been a tough summer for Oliver Glasner with Crystal Palace having lost their opening two league games

Chelsea have won the last 14 meetings between these two sides.

Chelsea have won nine of their last 11 competitive home games stretching back to February (D1, L1).

Palace have failed to score on five of their last six trips to Stamford Bridge.

Defeats to Brentford and West Ham in August mean that Palace are now winless in their last three London derby games. 

Prediction

Enzo Maresca was not necessarily a popular choice when Chelsea snared the manager from Leicester over the summer but the Italian seems to be settling in fairly well at Stamford Bridge.

Counterpart Oliver Glasner enjoyed a fantastic start to life at Palace after joining the club in February but it has been a tough summer for the Austrian and his team are perhaps still recovering after a few high-profile exits.

Chelsea’s stunning 6-2 win over Wolves last week suggests they may have a bit too much for Palace at present and the fact they have dominated the Eagles for some time, winning each of the last 14 meetings, also points towards a home win.

The Blues are the clear favourites here so the best bet could be backing Chelsea to win by two or more goals. Their attack clicked into gear at Molineux last week and they should come into this game fresh, as Maresca rotated his team for the midweek trip to Switzerland. 

Chelsea have won six of their last seven home games and four of those wins have come by at least two goals, while Palace have conceded exactly twice in both of their Premier League games this season, so the Blues may be able to follow up last week’s 6-2 destruction of Wolves with another convincing win on Sunday. 

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Tags

ChelseaCrystal PalacePremier League