Chelsea score predictions: A London derby win this time around

Chelsea is looking for a London derby redemption after a loss to West Ham last week. Our staff predicts a victory for the Blues.

This match is eerily similar to Chelsea’s London derby last week. The Blues take on a bottom half club struggling to find its form, debuting some new threads. Our experts don’t seem as confident as they were against West Ham, but predict a win nonetheless. Here’s our contributors’ predictions for the mid-week bout with Crystal Palace:

Michael DeVito: 1-2 Chelsea

Blues continue to win, but the game is too close for the fans and the gaffer’s comfort.

Tan Yi Hao: 0-2 Chelsea

Chelsea’s next three matches against Crystal Palace, Sheffield United and Norwich City present three glorious opportunities to take home maximum points on paper. Considering the last two fixtures are against Liverpool and then Wolves, this run of games could prove season-defining for the Blues.

Kicking off this run of games is an away tie to Crystal Palace, who has been struggling for form of late. Having already secured its spot in the Premier League next season, there really is nothing much for Palace to fight for. Chelsea should take advantage and move up to third in the table in a week where Leicester City will be taking on an in-form Arsenal side.

Siddharth Bharanidharan: 0-2 Chelsea

Chelsea’s recent performance against Watford was a good one. Crystal Palace is a better team, so Lampard must bring out the right tactics, formation and starting XI. As long as he brings out the right defense, the Blues will have no problem in getting the job done.

Varun Dani: 0-2 Chelsea

The last stop on the bogey team express lands at yet another tricky London derby. Palace has been mediocre throughout, as hot and cold as the strips on its kit. Chelsea did well to bounce back against Watford, but the theme of this season has been the consistent inconsistency, so expect a wildly cagey affair. It won’t be pretty, but the Blues will have to win to stay fourth—and also because it’s my birthday.

Nathaniel Kay: 1-1 Draw

The Blues have not drawn a game since the end of February and if you look down their remaining fixtures, Crystal Palace appears the only side who would hold out for a point. Roy Hodgson has the Eagles well drilled and may frustrate Frank’s men at times. Could a fourth Willian penalty in a row be the breakthrough for the Blues?

Olaoluwa Nwobodo: 0-2 Chelsea

If Zouma starts, our chances of keeping a clean sheet go up. Chelsea reacted well against Watford. Now that the reaction went well, can we go for consistency now?

Scott Brant: 0-3 Chelsea

In Crystal Palace’s last seven matches, the Eagles have either been shutout or shutout their opponent. Someone is going home with a clean sheet, I think it’ll be the Blues as they put together one of their all around best performances of the season. Pulisic, Giroud and Barkley to score. Defense to look like they aren’t missing Gary Cahill.

Abhishek Pancholi: 1-3 Chelsea

No clean sheet, but a significantly improved defensive performance from the Blues will be key to a win here.

Oliver Smith: 0-4 Chelsea

Crystal Palace has been in a tough spot for the last few games and Palace has proved to be a bit of a thorn in the Blues’ side in recent years. However, not this time. Chelsea will pile on the misery. The Blues’ attack is starting to ramp up, so expect devastating runs, cut-ins from the flanks and a goal a piece for Willian and Pulisic, a goal from Tammy Abraham and look for Ruben Loftus-Cheek to come on and score against the team that propelled him into Chelsea’s XI. What has been a shaky defence will ignore expectations and deliver a fine performance.

Gabe Henderson: 1-4 Chelsea

This game is truly, but given the run of form the Blues are in, I expect them to run rampant. The shaky defense concedes a goal, but Pulisic and Willian continue to shine. After an abysmal performance a week ago, Lampard’s men will seize the opportunity to go third, even if it’s just for a matter of hours. The launch of the Blues 2020/21 away kits will go over much smoother than that of the home kits as Chelsea wins by three goals in its new Three kit.

Kevin Peacock: 0-3 Chelsea

Another London Derby. The Blues have had a tough run of games post lockdown. They’ve done OK, but need to beat Palace if they are to continue holding onto that crucial fourth spot in the Prem. With ‘Dave’ at left back and Zouma back in, the back-four looked far more assured against a lacklustre Watford. Chelsea will continue from where it left off last time out, once again winning 3-0 with goals from Barkley, goal-machine Willian and Mason Mount, who will eventually score if I keep predicting it.

Barrett Rouen: 0-2 Chelsea

Another professional performance. Something is wrong at Palace at the moment. The Blues will deeply miss Kante though.

Nate Hofmann: 1-3 Chelsea

Crystal Palace might win the award for the most apathetic approach to post-Coronavirus football.  That’ll happen when you’re safe from relegation, not competing for European places, and playing without any fans to spur you on. Chelsea, on the other hand, has every reason to be fully invested in securing three points. That gulf in motivation should be all that’s necessary to decide the match. Chelsea is more talented, but the Blues will still need to show up and prove it, just like they did against Watford. They answered the call on Saturday, and I think they’ll do the same Tuesday.

What is your score prediction for the match? Let us know in the comments or on our Twitter!