Chelsea vs Crystal Palace

Stamford Bridge is the venue as Chelsea and Crystal Palace go head-to-head in an all-London Premier League match-up.

Fresh from lifting the UEFA Super Cup trophy and encouraged by last season’s Champions League triumph, Chelsea will be aiming to win their seventh Premier League title this term. However, an indifferent form across their previous five opening Premier League matches on home turf (W2, D1, L2) is barely inspiring. Yet, the ‘Blues’ have won their last four top-flight H2H matches against Crystal Palace at Stamford Bridge by an aggregate score of 11-2, keeping a first-half clean sheet on each occasion. Those stats deserve special attention, considering Chelsea finished the 2020/21 Premier League campaign as one of just seven teams to concede less than ten first-half goals at home (9). Still, they lost two of their final three league games last term (W1), more than they had in their previous 16 under Thomas Tuchel (W10, D5, L1).

On the other hand, a dismal 16th-place finish in 2020/21 means the visitors have failed to clinch a top-table finish in six consecutive top-flight seasons. The appointment of Patrick Vieira as part of Palace’s bid to challenge higher up the table this term might not bear fruits from the beginning, considering the Frenchman failed to beat his Chelsea counterpart in all four managerial H2Hs in Ligue (D1, L3). Interestingly, though, none of Palace’s last 16 first Premier League trips of a new season have ended as a draw (W5, L11), including a 3-1 win over Manchester United at Old Trafford in 2020/21. But the ‘Eagles’ failed to prevail in any of their eight London derbies against the sides that kept their top-flight status last season (D3, L5).