The battle for top four is intensifying after humiliations from the north London clubs on Saturday. Chelsea head to south London to a frequent bogey team, where Crystal Palace will look to be a spoiler yet again.
Chelsea kickoff the era of reverse fixtures at Selhurst Park. When Crystal Palace visited Stamford Bridge in matchweek 11, the Blues won through two goals from Alvaro Morata and a goal and assist from Pedro. Pedro is unavailable and Morata is, well, who ever really knows, so Maurizio Sarri will need a team effort to prevent Palace from doing Palace things.
Rupert Meadows: Crystal Palace 1 – 3 Chelsea. A bit of back and forth in the opening minutes, but Chelsea settle into their familiar rhythm and dominate possession and the flow of the game. The Blues go 1-0 up by halftime and, despite conceding, cruise to a relatively easy three points. Cesc Fabregas maybe comes on for the last 20 minutes and looks good, and Ruben Loftus-Cheek gets a run out from the bench against his former teammates.
Brendan McDonnell: Rebecca Lowe’s Eagles 1 – 2 Chelsea. When I started writing this, it was 2-1 Liverpool… it is currently 3-1 and I have no doubt it will be 4-1 before I hit “send.”
Anyhow, what do we make of Crystal Palace? Are they the team that beat City or the team that drew to an awful Cardiff side? Considering the match is at Selhurst Park and they’ve been bloody awful there all season (only a win vs. spry Leicester)… I’m guessing we see more of a Cardiff-y performance.
That said, this recent run of performances by Chelsea have been ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ come to life. I think we see the fun version of Sarri-ball and Chelsea impose their will on Palace. Eden Hazard continues his top-class form with a goal and an assist.
Still 3-1!
Tan Yi Hao: 0 – 3. Crystal Palace, regardless of their current standing or form, always somehow turn into prime Barcelona when playing against the Blues (Newcastle away 2.0, anyone?). But something tells me this Sunday won’t be one of those days.
Palace have just been so so poor outside of their shock win over Manchester City, and have generally struggled to score both home and away. Moreover, the Eagles have been defensively questionable this season and top scorer Wilfried Zaha has not found the net since October. This should be straightforward for the Blues to win in style and to end the year on a high.
Brendan McDonnell, Part II: Hahahahahaha! I came upstairs to eat breakfast and missed the PK. 4-1.
Barrett Rouen: 1 – 3. Chelsea win this one but still have trouble defending with a semblance of the old level of class. The Blues are simply a better side than Palace and it’s never too close.
Abhishek Pancholi: 1 – 0. Somehow I don’t feel very optimistic about this game. Chelsea will create loads of chances but fail to take them. Palace will get the breakthrough via an unstoppable long range effort and they’ll immediately switch to lockdown mode. This will frustrate Chelsea who will rack up close to 75% possession but only two shots on target. Things can only get better in 2019, right? Right?
Kevin Peacock: 0 – 2. Chelsea, fresh from beating a grade B London side in Watford, give more of the same to Palace. It won’t be easy – when is it? – but Chelsea win the day, surprisingly keeping a clean sheet in the process. Of course, Eden Hazard scores but, wonder of wonders, not only does Olivier Giroud start but he, too, gets a goal. With north London teams self-destructing yesterday a win will vastly aid Chelsea’s chance of gaining a top-four spot.
Scott Brant: 1 – 2. The Blues have plateaued, and may be trending downwards as favorites for top four. These are the matches they must win in order to stand a chance. I expect they will have tons of possession but still have to grind the match out. Three points none the less. Eden Hazard to score, and Marcos Alonso is due for a goal.
Gabe Henderson: 1 – 3. For some reason, Crystal Palace seemingly always gives Chelsea problems. However, Hazard is back to playing on another level. The Blues will be given chances to run away with it, but Willian will bottle each and every one of them. Regardless, a comfortable win that sees Chelsea distance themselves further from Arsenal.