Stuttering Chelsea continue their English Premier League season against London rivals Crystal Palace, as the pair kick off this weekend’s action on Saturday lunchtime.
Tammy Abraham’s injury time equalizer just about spared the Blues? blushes at West Brom last weekend.
It was a goal that allowed an escape from The Hawthorns with a point having come back from 3-0 down thanks also to goals from Mason Mount and Callum Hudson-Odoi.
Frank Lampard is under a spot of early pressure, then, with his side also slipping up at home to reigning champions Liverpool the previous week, following an opening round victory at Brighton.
Edouard Mendy is in line for a Chelsea debut in goal, with Ben Chilwell also expected to play.
Timo Werner is a doubt, while Hakim Ziyech and Christian Pulisic are nearing their returns from injury.
Crystal Palace are above their hosts in the EPL table thanks to back-to-back wins over Southampton and Manchester United to start the new campaign.
That run was halted by impressive Everton last Saturday, as Cheikhou Kouyate’s goal proved insufficient in a 2-1 loss at Selhurst Park.
Roy Hodgson is without a host of injured players, with on-loan striker Michy Batshuayi also ruled out against his parent club.
Chelsea vs Crystal Palace: Prediction
Prediction methodology explained: The expected win percentage is based off publicly available odds. For example, if a team’s odds are 2.30, the expected chance of winning is 43%. If the odds are 1.62 the expected chance of winning is 62% and so on. These are accurate at the time of writing but are subject to change. Where there is no value listed, the odds were not available at the time of writing.
Chelsea vs Crystal Palace: Line-up predictions
Probable Chelsea Starting XI: Edouard Mendy, Reece James, Thiago Silva, Kurt Zouma, Ben Chilwell, Jorginho, N?Golo Kante, Mason Mount, Kai Havertz, Timo Werner, Tammy Abraham.
Probable Crystal Palace Starting XI: Vicente Guaita, Joel Ward, Cheikhou Kouyate, Mamadou Sakho, Tyrick Mitchell, Andros Townsend, James McCarthy, James McArthur, Eberechi Eze, Wilfried Zaha, Jordan Ayew.