Chelsea
head coach Maurizio Sarri expects Eden Hazard to be fit to play some part in
his side's Renault Super Sunday clash with Crystal Palace.
Hazard has been battling a back injury which he sustained in Chelsea's 2-2
draw against Manchester United, missing his side's last three fixtures.
He did train with the full Chelsea squad on Thursday but Sarri is still
unsure over his potential involvement in the game against Palace, which is
live on Sky Sports.
"Yesterday Eden had a large part of training with the team," Sarri said on
Friday. "Maybe he will not be ready to play for 90 minutes at the moment,
because it was his first training in the last two weeks. But probably he
will be able to play for 40, 45 minutes. So for us it's important."
When pressed on whether he will play from the start, he added: "I don't
know, I want to speak with him first."
Crystal Palace are without a win from their last five games in all
competitions but last time out in the league they picked up a point with a
battling 2-2 draw against Arsenal.
It was a performance manager Roy Hodgson believed deserved three points and
he feels his side have been unlucky in many games so far this season.
"Confidence demands a lot of courage," Hodgson told Sky Sports News. "You
have to have the courage to play football. I think we have done that this
year. We have not maybe got as much to show for it as we would have liked
but I think the courage to play and the desire to play has always been there
and as a result has bred a certain amount of confidence."
Team news
Ross Barkley is set to return for Chelsea having been rested for the Carabao
Cup victory over Derby in midweek.
Wilfried Zaha was an absentee as Crystal Palace crashed out of the Crabao
Cup at Middlesbrough in midweek but the forward is fit and expected to
return having recovered from a shoulder problem.
However, Connor Wickham will miss the trip to Stamford Bridge due to a thigh
strain. he joins Christian Benteke, Scott Dann and Joel Ward on the
sidelines.
"Connor Wickham has picked up a new thigh strain, which stopped him from
taking part on Wednesday evening," said Hodgson. "He will be out now for a
further period of time, which is a shame and a disappointment because he had
been training for a while with us on a regular basis. We were harbouring the
notion that he may now be fit enough to take part, but that is not the case
and he isn't.
"Christian Benteke is making good progress and continuing his programme of
rehabilitation and Joel Ward is still recovering from his thigh strain."
Opta stats
Chelsea have lost two of their last three Premier League meetings with
Crystal Palace (W1), as many as they had in their first 15 against them in
the competition (W11 D2 L2).
Crystal Palace have won two of their last three away league games against
Chelsea (L1), more than they had in their previous 18 combined at Stamford
Bridge (W1 D8 L9).
Palace - 2-0 winners at Fulham in August - haven't won two away Premier
League London derbies in a single campaign since the 1997-98 season, when
they won at Wimbledon and Spurs.
None of the last 14 Premier League meetings between Chelsea and Crystal
Palace have finished as a draw, with Chelsea winning 10 to Palace's four.
Chelsea manager Sarri is unbeaten in his first 10 Premier League games as a
manager (W7 D3 L0) - only one manager has had a longer unbeaten start, with
Frank Clark managing 11 without defeat with Nottingham Forest in 1994.
Four of Chelsea's last eight Premier League goals have been scored by
English players (three Barkley, one Loftus-Cheek) - excluding own-goals,
prior to this run just four of their previous 100 goals were scored by
Englishmen.
Ross Barkley has scored in each of his last three Premier League games for
Chelsea - only two Englishmen have scored in four in a row for the Blues,
with Frank Lampard doing so on three separate occasions (2005, 2010 and
2013) and Mark Stein scoring in seven in a row in 1994.
Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson has lost his last four Premier League
matches at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea - his only win there was in his
first visit in April 1998 with Blackburn Rovers.
Since the start of last season, Luka Milivojevic has scored nine Premier
League penalties for Crystal Palace - more than any of the other 22 clubs
competing in the top-flight in that time have scored.
Merson's predictions
I thought Palace did well against Arsenal, but Chelsea are in a different
league. They'll be too good, too strong for Palace at the Bridge.
Chelsea are playing well - they're not the finished article but you can see
smatterings of brilliance and the way Maurizio Sarri wants them to play.
He's getting the best out of certain players.
I'm going for a Chelsea win, and for all three top teams to stay unbeaten
still, which is unbelievable.
PAUL PREDICTS: 3-0 (7/1 with Sky Bet)
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