Friday 28 August 2015 19:37, UK
Alan Pardew feels Premier League champions Chelsea are an even better side than they were last season.
Pardew takes his Crystal Palace side to Stamford Bridge on Saturday for Jose Mourinho's 200th Premier League game in charge of the Blues and 100th at home in the competition.
Mourinho has had a difficult start to the season, having been involved in a public row with his medical staff and seeing his team routed 3-0 at Manchester City in their second match.
But things have improved in the past week, with the addition of Barcelona winger Pedro followed by a 3-2 win at West Brom for Chelsea's first victory of the season.
And Pardew said: "They have a side that looks to me like it could be better than the one last year and that one won them the league.
"They have some new players. They're integrating those. It would be fair to say Chelsea are not quite in the groove [they were in] when we played them last time."
Chelsea clinched the title on May 3 with a 1-0 home defeat of Palace and history is against the Eagles, who have not beaten Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in 33 years.
"We performed last year almost to our maximum and still got beat. It's one of those places," Pardew added.
"You have to go there and play your best game and hope that you get a result."
Palace face a challenging run against Chelsea, Manchester City and Tottenham either side of the international break, but Pardew is keen to build on his side's strong start to the season.
"We've won three out of four (including in the Capital One Cup against Shrewsbury) and that's pretty good," he said.
"The fourth game [against Arsenal] we lost - we could've got something out of, if the ref, in my opinion, had made the right decision.
"We're in good shape and we're looking forward to Chelsea. It's always a great place to play, great atmosphere.
"Our fans will add to that. It'll be a great occasion."
