Crystal Palace fought hard against Manchester United when the two teams met mid-week, but they were unable to grab any points. They will now host league leaders Chelsea, who are coming in hot after recording their 10th consecutive win against Sunderland.
Crystal Palace (4-9-3) were very close to salvaging one point from their road match against Manchester United, but they conceded a very hurtful goal at the 90th minute, when Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored at the 92nd minute to grab all 3 points. That loss puts Crystal Palace at the 16th spot of the Premier League with 15 points, and they are now just 3 points above the red line. The main reason for their bad placement is without a doubt their defense, as they have the 3rd worst defensive performance with 31 conceded goals so far. They haven’t done so well at home so far (2-5-1), where they again have the 3rd worst defense. They have won just one of their last 5 matches at home, a 0-3 victory over Southampton. However, they faced West Ham, Liverpool and the 2 Manchester franchises in those 4 losses, and facing Chelsea on Saturday will surely worsen their record. They will be coming into this match with several injury concerns, as Tomkins, Sakho, Wickham, Mandanda and Benteke are all listed as unavailable.
On the other hand, Chelsea (13-2-1) continued steamrolling everyone in their path, this time they emerged victorious from their road match against Sunderland by 1-0. They have now won 10 matches in a row and they keep enjoying the solitude of the top spot in the Premier League, having already taken a 6 point advantage over runners-up Liverpool and Arsenal. Chelsea were dominant at the first half of that match, with 70% ball possession and 7 scoring chances against just 1 from their opponents. They took the lead at the 40th minute with Fabregas, and even had more chances to double their lead. Coach Conte tried to play down his team’s 10 consecutive win, stating that the Premier League isn’t over yet, and that at least 6 teams will battle till the end. It was a good move from coach Conte, in an attempt to keep his players focused to their next task, as some people tend to get complacent after such a long streak. Chelsea have been stellar at home (7-1-0), where they have lost only Liverpool, while deaturing the best home offense with 21 goals, and the best defense with just 4 conceded.