Antonio
Conte believes Chelsea cannot afford to drop any more points in their
pursuit of a top-four Premier League finish, starting against Crystal Palace
on Saturday.
The Blues have suffered back-to-back league defeats and trail fourth-placed
Tottenham by five points and seventh-placed Liverpool with nine matches
remaining.
Chelsea lost the reverse fixture at Selhurst Park in October and Conte
admits his side's results must improve if they are to stay in the hunt for
Champions League qualification.
"The teams ahead of us are going with great velocity," Conte said. "For this
reason I think it's important for us don't lose points, don't drop points,
in every game. We must go [with] speed. We have to go."
Conte must decide whether to play Alvaro Morata or Olivier Giroud up front,
or to continue with Eden Hazard as a false nine in tactics which were
criticised during their loss at Manchester City on Sunday.
"Sometimes the critics are constructive, sometimes [they] are rubbish,"
Conte added. "I think that we must have respect for the job of the other. At
the end pundits are pundits. Managers are managers."
Team news
Chelsea midfielder N'Golo Kante has trained all week and could feature,
having fainted at the Blues' training ground ahead of their loss to
Manchester City last weekend.
Defenders David Luiz (ankle) and Ethan Ampadu (hamstring) and midfielder
Ross Barkley (hamstring) are out, but midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko is
available again.
Palace will hand late fitness tests to Wilfried Zaha (knee ligaments) and
Mamadou Sakho (calf), while Roy Hodgson also has the on-loan Timothy
Fosu-Mensah available again following his ineligibility against parent club
Manchester United.
Joel Ward, Scott Dann, Yohan Cabaye, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Jason Puncheon,
Bakary Sako, Connor Wickham and Julian Speroni are all still sidelined.
Opta stats
Chelsea have lost their last two Premier League games against Crystal Palace
- the last side to beat them in three consecutively was Liverpool, with a
run of four in May 2012.
The Eagles have won back-to-back Premier League games at Stamford Bridge,
after failing to win any of their first 13 at the ground in top-flight
competition (D5 L8).
The last time Chelsea lost three home London derbies in a row against the
same opposition in the top-flight was vs Arsenal in April 1974.
Antonio Conte's side have lost four of their last five Premier League games;
their previous four defeats in the competition came over a run of 30
matches.
Willian has had a hand in 16 goals in his last 17 starts for Chelsea in all
competitions (11 goals, 5 assists).
Merson predictions
Chelsea could be virtually out of the race for the top four this weekend.
It's all about timing for Palace. The Chelsea players will have one eye on
Barcelona next week, and Palace have been unlucky recently.
They have played two of the top teams, and lost in the last minute in both
of them. Those two points - more, when you look at the United game - could
have made a big difference. I think without Wilfried Zaha they really
struggle, so I can't look beyond Chelsea.
PAUL PREDICTS: 2-0 (9/2 with SkyBet)
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