Team
news, stats and prediction ahead of Chelsea vs Crystal Palace in the Premier
League on Saturday (kick-off 3pm).
Team news
Chelsea's record signing Romelu Lukaku will not be involved in his side's
Premier League opener at home to Crystal Palace.
Striker Lukaku joined the Blues for a reported £97.5m on Thursday, but the
transfer from Inter Milan was not concluded in time for him to feature on
Saturday afternoon.
Hakim Ziyech is sidelined due to the shoulder injury he sustained in the
midweek UEFA Super Cup success against Villarreal, while N'Golo Kante has
"some issues" following that match and is a doubt.
New Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira is without summer loan signing
Conor Gallagher for the trip to Stamford Bridge.
The midfielder joined the Eagles from Chelsea and is ineligible to face his
parent club, while captain Luka Milivojevic will be absent due to personal
reasons.
Ebere Eze and Nathan Ferguson are long-term absentees after both ruptured
their Achilles in May. Michael Olise, who joined from Reading in July, is
out with a back injury but due to return to training this month, and the
Eagles are set to give debuts to defenders Marc Guehi and Joachim Andersen
on Saturday.
Opta stats
Chelsea have won 16 of their last 20 Premier League meetings with Crystal
Palace (L4), including each of the last seven in a row.
After winning back-to-back away league games against Chelsea in 2015-16 and
2016-17, Crystal Palace have lost their last four visits to Stamford Bridge
by an aggregate score of 11-2.
Chelsea have lost their opening match in two of the last four Premier League
seasons (W2), as many as they had in the previous 23 campaigns (W16 D5 L2).
Crystal Palace have won two of their last three season openers in the
Premier League (D1), keeping a clean sheet in all three matches. The Eagles
had won just two of their previous 15 top-flight openers (D4 L9).
Chelsea lost two of their last three Premier League games of the 2020-21
season, more than they had in their previous 16 under manager Thomas Tuchel
(W10 D5 L1).
Jones Knows' Prediction
An odds-on favourite taking on a lowly-ranked team rolling the dice with a
new management appointment - these aren't the types of matches that get my
punting juices flowing. I will be watching on closely though to see how
Crystal Palace go about their business under Patrick Vieira, who never lost
as a player against Chelsea in 10 meetings in the Premier League. He'll need
to get them expertly organised against the European champions. Thomas
Tuchel's boys will be in stranglehold mode with the ball for this one and
play with their usual control once in front.
Like last season, this has led me to think a low-scoring Chelsea win is the
smartest type of play in such a fixture, with Sky Bet offering 10/11 for
Chelsea to win and under 3.5 goals in the match - a bet that would have
landed in Chelsea home games against similarly-ranked opposition like
Everton, Burnley, Newcastle and Fulham last season.
SCORE PREDICTION: 2-0
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