Chelsea play host to Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Wednesday evening looking for the win that will keep them in the top half of the standings.

Meanwhile, Palace - who sit in 15th position - make the short trip to Stamford Bridge sitting just four points adrift of their upcoming opponents.

Match preview

As has been the case for Chelsea supporters throughout this season, a high was followed by another low last week as their team lost out to Wolverhampton Wanderers on Boxing Day.

Poor decision-making in the first half, most notably from Raheem Sterling in a three-on-one situation, kept Wolves in the game at half time, and the home side took full advantage after the break.

Although Christopher Nkunku netted his first Chelsea goal deep into stoppage time, it proved no more than a consolation as Chelsea lost for the eighth time in 18 Premier League fixtures under Mauricio Pochettino.

Eight points adrift of the top six, the West Londoners are already at a stage where they need to start putting a run of wins together to avoid the realistic possibility of focus on winning the EFL Cup or FA Cup in order to secure a route into Europe.

While just three wins have come from nine top-flight fixtures at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea have won their last two and are unbeaten in their last five in all competitions.

Roy Hodgson takes his Palace side to Chelsea still under pressure to retain his job at Selhurst Park, a consequence of one victory in 11 games.

Nevertheless, posting back-to-back draws with Manchester City and Brighton & Hove Albion felt like steps in the right direction, even though they are now only six points above the relegation zone.

Conceding a late equaliser to Brighton came as a blow, but aside from the home defeat to Bournemouth, Palace have been underdogs in the other four most recent contests and only lost once, letting slip a lead against Liverpool after Jordan Ayew had been controversially sent off.

Along three other clubs, Palace have the second worst attacking record in the division, yet they have found the back of the net in eight of their most recent nine Premier League fixtures.

Team News

Pochettino will be forced into making at least three changes to his Chelsea XI, a result of Lesley Ugochukwu's hamstring injury sustained against Wolves and the one-game bans for Cole Palmer and Sterling.

Moises Caicedo or Enzo Fernandez could return from illness and a hernia respectively, with Romeo Lavia not expected to start at this stage of his recovery when he has not played a competitive game all season.

With Pochettino likely to avoid the temptation of starting Nkunku just over a week after his debut after a long-term absence, Noni Madueke and Mykhaylo Mudryk should feature in the final third, with Nicolas Jackson and Armando Broja potentially remaining in the team.

Given the severity of Chelsea's injury list, Pochettino will also give consideration to starting Ian Maatsen at right-back ahead of the recently-returned Malo Gusto.

Meanwhile, Palace boss Hodgson may hand a recall to Eberechi Eze with the playmaker having come through 20 minutes against Brighton and gotten more training under his belt after a hamstring injury.

Barring any new injury issues, that could prove to be the only change, with Chris Richards continuing in a defensive-midfield role and none of Palace's injured players being due to return.

Chelsea possible starting lineup:
Petrovic; Gusto, Disasi, Silva, Colwill; Caicedo, Gallagher; Madueke, Jackson, Mudryk; Broja

Crystal Palace possible starting lineup:
Henderson; Clyne, Andersen, Guehi, Mitchell; Lerma, Richards, Eze; Olise, Mateta, Ayew

We say: Chelsea 1-1 Crystal Palace

While Chelsea will be confident of picking up a result on home soil, missing key players against a Palace side growing in belief is hardly ideal. With that in mind, we feel that a low-scoring draw may be played out at Stamford Bridge, one that does not really suit either team.


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