Crystal Palace vs. Chelsea, Premier League: Preview, team news, how to watch
01/03/2025 10:32 PM
New year, new us?
We have reached the halfway point of the 2024-25 season: 19 down, 19 to go. It may not be a brand new season, but it is a brand new calendar year and thus perhaps a symbolic new start to arrest this three-match winless streak, including back-to-back defeats.
Fourth place isn't bad. But it's not great either. We've collected 38 and 35 points over the last two 19-match periods. We should be expecting an improvement on that now, which should then get us a top-four finish and Champions League football for next season.
Date / Time: Saturday, January 4, 2024, 15.00 GMT; 10am EST; 8:30pm IST
Venue: Selhurst Park, London
Referee: Tim Robinson (on pitch); Paul Tierney (VAR)
Forecast: Barely above freezing
On TV: none (UK); none (USA); Star Sports Select HD2 (India); SuperSports Blitz, Canal+ Sport 5 (NGA); elsewhere
Streaming: none (UK); Peacock (USA); Disney+ Hotstar (India); DStv Now (NGA)
Crystal Palace team news: Palace made an horrendous start to the campaign in Oliver Glasner's first full season as manager, failing to win any of their first eight games and collecting just three points in the process. But over the past couple months, their fortunes have improved markedly, with four wins, five draws, and just two defeats, to Arsenal and to Fulham. They are up to 15th and five points clear of the drop — and just two points worse off than Manchester United (HAH!).
They remain one of the worst-scoring teams in the league — the departure of Michael Olise has not gone unnoticed — but their defense is capable and despite their struggles overall, only once in their 19 league games have they conceded more than two goals. That one game, a 5-1 defeat against Arsenal, was the only one since October that our very own Trevoh Chalobah did not start. His absence due to Premier League loan rules could be a big factor this time as well.
Another key absence could be captain Will Hughes, though his replacement, Cheick Doucouré, back from the Achilles injury that kept him out for most of 2024, has been a thorn in our side before as well. Fellow midfielder Adam Wharton is also out.
Chelsea team news: Reece James was back on the bench in Ipswich and it sounds like he's ready to make his return to action now, closely followed by Roméo Lavia as well (though maybe not just yet). So that's the good news. The bad news is that Wesley Fofana "could" be out for the rest of the season and Benoît Badiashile won't be back until February at the earliest.
While only four teams have conceded more, our defensive frailties have come to the fore during this three-match slide, and as Glasner himself has pointed out, we aren't likely to surprise anyone with our approach to the game. Execution will thus be key.
"I don't think that they will surprise us. I don't think that it's flexible. They go from a 3-2-5 to a 3-1-6 sometimes, and this is what they did against us in the second-half [in September's 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge]: they went more to a 4-1-5, then if Cucurella plays in the pocket or sometimes he goes wide to create a 2v1 on the wing, this is what they're always doing.
"They have the opportunities with their players because Malo Gusto can play in the pocket as well and he can play as a full-back, and support Neto orMadueke on the wing so it's nothing.
"I think they can't surprise us, I think they don't want to surprise us because they also believe in their strengths, because two match rounds before they were second in the league and they were asked about challenging for the Premier League title.
"I think Enzo Maresca always stayed humble and kept this down, but again it's a clear structure, a lot of possession, short passes, also having traps, giving them the pocket and then finding these players like Cole Palmer, like João Felix, and then they are so good and with the first touch to turn and make pressure on the defence and finding the right moment for the pass and creating chances and scoring goals.
"I really like to watch them, but I think, especially in the second-half at Chelsea, we did it very well, I think we had a good answer. I'm convinced that we are in a better physical shape now than we were at the beginning of the season, we should be tactically better, but we have to show it tomorrow."
-Oliver Glasner; source: Crystal Palace FC
Previously: As Glasner also helpfully reminded us, they took points off Chelsea in the reverse fixture, though they are hardly alone in doing so at Stamford Bridge. Still, that was the first time Palace got any points in a game against Chelsea since 2017. We had won 13 in a row against them, 14 in all competitions. Time to restart that streak!
