Maurizio Sarri’s side know they will need to be on their toes when they face opponents who stunned Manchester City last weekend
Crystal Palace host Chelsea at Selhurst Park on Saturday with the intention of causing another upset.
Roy Hodgson’s side have been in good form lately and dealt a blow to Manchester City’s title challenge when they surprisingly won 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium a week ago.
Though they were held by Cardiff subsequently, they played a strong match.
Chelsea, meanwhile, have been a little inconsistent of late, with losses against Wolves and Leicester causing them to fall 11 points behind league leaders Liverpool and set their sights simply on a top-four finish.
| Game | Crystal Palace vs Chelsea |
| Date | Sunday, December 30 |
| Time | 12 noon GMT / 7am ET |
| Stream (US only) | fuboTV (7-day free trial) |
In the United States (US), the game can be watched live and on-demand with fuboTV (7-day free trial) .
New users can sign up for a free seven-day trial of the live sports streaming service, which can be accessed via iOS, Android, Chromecast, Amazon Fire TV, Roku and Apple TV as well as on a web browser.
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| US TV channel | Online stream |
|---|---|
| NBCSN | fuboTV (7-day free trial) |
In the United Kingdom (UK), the game can be watched live on TV on Sky Sports Premier League, Sky 1 and Sky Sports Main Event. It can also be streamed live online using Sky Go.
| UK TV channel | Online stream |
|---|---|
| Sky Sports Premier League / Sky Sports Main Event | Sky Go |
| Position | Crystal Palace players |
|---|---|
| Goalkeepers | Hennessey, Guaita, Speroni |
| Defenders | Sakho, Tomkins, Dann, Riedewald, van Aanholt, Schlupp, Souare, Ward, Wan-Bissaka, Kelly |
| Midfielders | Milivojevic, Kouyate, McArthur, Meyer, Puncheon, Williams, Kaikai, Townsend, Zaha |
| Forwards | Ayew, Wickham, Sorloth |
Christian Benteke is training once more but is not expected to return to action until the middle of January.
There are doubts over goalkeeper Wayne Hennessy and defender Martin Kelly.
Crystal Palace starting XI: Guaita; Wan-Bissaka, Tomkins, Sakho, Van Aanholt; Townsend, Kouyate, Milivojevic, McArthur, Schlupp; Zaha
| Position | Chelsea squad |
|---|---|
| Goalkeepers | Kepa, Caballero, Green, Bulka |
| Defenders | Rudiger, Alonso, Zappacosta, Cahill, Christensen, Azpilicueta, Luiz, Emerson, Ampadu |
| Midfielders | Moses, Fabregas, Jorginho, Drinkwater, Kante, Barkley, Loftus-Cheek, Kovacic, McEachran |
| Forwards | Hazard, Pedro, Giroud, Morata, Willian, Hudson-Odoi |
Chelsea will have a strong squad to select from, with all of their regulars available. Andreas Christensen and Victor Moses, however, are sidelined.
There are doubts over Pedro and youngster Callum Hudson-Odoi, with both missing out. Gary Cahill and Cesc Fabregas have been left out as they are linked with moves away in January.
Chelsea starting XI: Kepa; Azpilicueta, Rudiger, David Luiz, Alonso; Kante, Jorginho, Barkley; Willian, Giroud, Hazard.
Chelsea are favourites to win the match, with bet365 giving odds of 8/11 on an away win. Palace’s chances of victory are rated 17/4 and a draw is available at 29/10.
Click here to see all of bet 365’s offers for the game, including goalscoring markets, correct score predictions and more.
Fourth in the league, some of the lustre has been lost from the beginning to Maurizio Sarri’s time at Chelsea. Despite a couple of recent hiccups, though, the Italian has made good progress and has put the Stamford Bridge side in the thick of a highly competitive fight for Champions League football next season.
The biggest headache he currently faces comes in the form of Eden Hazard, who has refused to commit his future to the club .
Reports linking the Belgium ace to Real Madrid refuse to go away, and yet his value to the Blues is undoubted, with 10 goals and nine assists already this season in the Premier League, including a double that carried his side to victory over Watford on Boxing Day.
“It’s time to decide,” he said when quizzed on the player’s future .
“I am the coach. I am not the president, I am not in charge of the market, I am the coach. I want to speak to him only about the position on the pitch.
“I think we have to solve the problem.”
The speculation has not affected the attacker, who has been used as a false 9 of late and is now up to 100 goals for the club .
Palace boss Roy Hodgson is only too aware of the threat that he will carry against his side.
“He is a top player and widely regarded as one of the top forwards in Europe,” the ex-England boss said. “He showed that in the World Cup and his performances taking Belgium to the World Cup semi-finals.
“He has got all the skills that make him hard to contain but he is always wise in his play.
“He knows the right moment to produce those skills. When he gets past his defender he has a very good finish as he showed the other day when he rounded the goalkeeper [in the win at Watford].
“When people do that you think: ‘That was obvious, an easy goal to score.’ But it’s having that knowledge, composure and understanding and not least the physical and technical ability to do it.
“All good goals have people in pubs all around the country saying: ‘I might have done that,’ when in actual fact it’s much harder sometimes!”
Having subdued Manchester City a week ago, Palace are out to continue an unbeaten run of three matches.