The Blues will look to climb back into the upper-end of the Premier League standings as they welcome a confident Crystal Palace to Stamford Bridge on Saturday night.
After a start to their title defence that was raising the wrong sorts of questions, Chelsea finally recorded their first win of the new season in a blistering 3-2 affair with West Brom last weekend. Thibuat Courtois’ return to action required the Belgian to save an early penalty and ex-Barcelona arrival Pedro Rodriguez made an immediate impact by scoring the 20th minute opener and then assisting Diego Costa. With a two goal buffer at half-time, the champions were made to fight until the end after John Terry was shown a red card for a last ditch tackle which may have denied a certain goal for the opposition.
Even with the win under their belts, something still does not seem quite right with Jose Mourinho’s star-studded squad.
Alan Pardew’s Crystal Palace outfit come into the match sitting an unlikely fifth on the table, following victories in two of their opening three Premier League matches. Looking razor sharp at times, the Eagles capitalised on a tired defence with Bakary Sakho’s stunning strike in the closing minutes snatching the maximum points against Aston Villa last weekend.
Palace also dismantled League One outfit Shrewsbury Town in a midweek Capital One Cup fixture, yet there were a number of potential squad casualties in the 4-1 win.
Key Battle – Pedro vs Yohan Cabaye
The opening two games of 2015-16 saw Chelsea muster little threat up front. Eden Hazard was having a terrible time trying to find space on the ball and Costa could only get the most fleeting views on the goal. Pedro’s swift introduction into the starting XI last weekend looked to be a solution for the Blues’ attacking struggles, adding another focal point in the dangerous areas that required the attention of opposition defenders and leaving that extra bit of room the likes of Costa needs to move into a scoring position.
The Spaniard’s second appearance in Blue will reveal to some extent whether or not he can influence the team’s form in a similar way to Fabregas, or if he is just a temporary bandage over deeper-lying issues in Mourinho’s setup.
While Yohan Cabaye’s move to Crystal Palace was one of the transfer windows biggest surprises, four weeks into the season and it is making perfect sense for both the club and player. Having played nearly every minute of the three games so far, the Frenchman’s desires for first team football are going to be fulfilled and he has slotted back into a Pardew team with ease.
Working across both flanks, Cabaye’s speed and creative distribution is the type of combination that has been the undoing for the Chelsea defence so far, and he has every chance to cause a major stir at the Bride.
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Team News
The Chelsea captain provides the only selection issue for Jose Mourinho after his sending-off at the Hawthorns, but youngster Kurt Zouma will relish this type of fixture and provides a more than capable replacement. Pero will likely retain his place among the attacking-midfield trio, leaving Oscar to begin the match on the bench.
Chelsea expected starting XI: Courtois; Ivanovic, Azpilicueta, Zouma, Cahill; Hazard, Willian; Pedro, Matic, Fàbregas, Costa
Palace manager Pardew was in a way fortunate that he chose to rest most of his key names for the midweek League Cup commitment, as the match saw a hamstring injury sustained by captain Mile Jedinak. Dwight Gale and Wilfried Zaha were also substituted for precautionary measures, yet the Ivorian should be in the starting line-up that faces the champions.
Crystal Palace expected starting XI: McCarthy; Ward, Delaney, Souaré, Dann; Sako, McArthur; Zaha, Cabaye, Puncheon; Murray
Head-to-head
The Blues have only lost three times to Crystal Palace out of their 27 matches, recording 15 wins against the South Londoners and the other nine ending in draws.
Previous Meeting
Crystal Palace provided one of the final hurdles between Mourinho’s team and the title back in May, where Chelsea emerged with a typical of the time 1-0 win, Hazard netting the solitary goal on the rebound after being denied from the penalty spot.
Prediction
It is truly a sign of a good season ahead when a fixture such as this looks so competitive. The champions are unable to drop many more early points if they want to remain in touch with Manchester City at the top, but at least have started scoring goals again. With the recent showings of both sides, Palace have every ability of knocking Chelsea down a further peg, however, the Stamford Bridge advantage coming-off their first win will see the Blues over the line.
Chelsea 2 Crystal Palace 0
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