Crystal Palace vs Chelsea. Premier League.
Selhurst ParkAttendance25,259.
Saturday 17 December 2016 13:28, UK
Chelsea have a chance to pull nine points clear at the top in the lunchtime kick-off against struggling Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Saturday, live on Sky Sports 1 HD and Sky Sports Mix from 11.30am.
Cesc Fabregas netted the winner in the 1-0 win at Sunderland on Wednesday, which stretched Chelsea's winning run to 10 matches in the Premier League and took them six points clear at the top.
If Antonio Conte's men can beat Palace, they will equal a club record 11 consecutive top-flight wins that was set in 2009.
Victories have been far harder to come by for Alan Pardew's men, who went down 2-1 at home to Manchester United on Wednesday.
Palace sit precariously above the relegation zone and have won just six of their last 37 Premier League games, meaning they have the worst average points per game record of any side in English football since the start of 2016 (0.74).
Palace are without Mathieu Flamini after the midfielder suffered a groin injury on Wednesday.
Jason Puncheon is available again to Pardew after the midfielder served a one-match ban.
Pardew is still without long-term absentees James Tomkins, Connor Wickham, Bakary Sako, Loic Remy, Pape Souare and Steve Mandanda.
Conte has confirmed Eden Hazard should be in contention to feature for Chelsea after missing the Sunderland game with knee trouble.
Oscar, who is subject of transfer speculation from China, is out with illness but Kurt Zouma and Ruben Loftus-Cheek returned to the bench against Sunderland as unused substitutes following injury problems.
Palace have only mustered three goals in seven previous Premier League home games against Chelsea and one of these was a John Terry own goal.
If Chelsea win this match they will have defeated Palace at Selhurst Park on more occasions than any other team in the Premier League (currently five wins).
Chelsea have lost just one of their last eight Premier League London derbies (W4 D3 L1), but this defeat came earlier this season at Arsenal (0-3).
Christian Benteke has scored in four of his last six Premier League appearances against Chelsea, including in his last two versus the Blues.
Pardew will take charge of his 302nd Premier League game, making him joint 10th in the all-time list of most Premier League games managed (level with Joe Kinnear).
Chelsea are guaranteed to be top of the Premier League on Christmas Day. They have won the league title on each of the four previous occasions they have topped the Premier League at Xmas (2014-15, 2009-10, 2005-06 & 2004-05).
Six of the last seven teams to top the Premier League table at Christmas have gone on to win the title that season.
I know Palace haven't enjoyed the best of times recently, and Chelsea are playing well, but this will be a hard game for Chelsea. For me, it all depends on Wilfried Zaha. The way of beating this three at the back system is to get the ball out wide. They can give Chelsea a bit of a scare if they do.
If you look at Chelsea's last two games, they haven't blown teams away. They fell over the line against West Brom, who deserved a draw and then a world class save stopped Sunderland getting a point.
This is a difficult game, and I don't think Chelsea are scoring enough goals at the minute.
PAUL PREDICTS: 1-1 (Sky Bet odds 13/2)
There are eight Sky Bet Price Boosts on offer ahead of kick-off in the opening Premier League game of the weekend; you can back both Benteke and Diego Costa to score at odds enhanced from 9/2 to 13/2 and the price for Scott Dann or David Luiz to be the first player carded is pushed up from 11/2 to 15/2.
Sky Bet make leaders Chelsea odds-on favourites at 4/7 to secure another three points, Palace can be backed at 5/1 for the win and the draw is on offer at 3/1.
