Chelsea – Crystal Palace

We are heading to the Stamford Bridge in London where Chelsea hosts Crystal Palace in a game from the 12th round of the Premier League.

Chelsea are in a great shape at the moment. Frank Lampard’s team is in a run of five consecutive wins in the league, enjoying a position in the Top 4. The Blues are 4th in the table with 23 points, having the same amount of points as the third Leicester City. The Europa League winners had a difficult start of the campaign, but if they continue to show this form, they can easily qualify for the Champions League again.

For Chelsea this match comes just days after the terrific game against Ajax in the Champions League, in which the Blues fought for a point after a dramatic 4-4 draw. Jorginho scored two penalties against the Dutch giants, while Cesar Azpilicueta and Reece James also scored for Lampard’s team.

Against Crystal Palace Chelsea will be without the German defender Antonio Rudiger, who is still recovering from an injury.

Crystal Palace are having a solid season so far, but winning just one point in their last three games in the Premier League made them fall into 9th place in the standings. So far Roy Hodgson’s boys have 15 points won, which after all is an improvement, compared to the way they performed an year ago.

But how we said, Palace’s current form is not the best possible. In their last three matches the Londoners won a point against Arsenal and suffered two losses against Manchester City and Leicester City. It was a pretty tough schedule for them, though, we must say.

Chelsea are favourites to get the three points against Crystal Palace on Saturday, but now it’s up to Frank Lampard to find a way to rotate some players after the tough game against Ajax in the Champions League. Maybe we are going to see new faces on the pitch.