Chelsea vs Crystal Palace: All you need to know

15 days ago

Chelsea FC

A first London derby of the season awaits Chelsea tomorrow as Enzo Maresca and his players welcome Crystal Palace to Stamford Bridge.

The top-flight fixture, which kicks off at 1.30pm, was moved to accommodate our UEFA Conference League play-off second leg against Servette, which ended in defeat but saw the Blues progress on aggregate.

Our opening two Premier League fixtures of the new season have yielded one defeat and a victory. Palace, meanwhile, have been beaten in back-to-back fixtures against London opposition in the form of Brentford and West Ham United.

However, on Tuesday evening a strong Eagles side found their wings, eliminating the Canaries of Norwich City from the Carabao Cup with a 4-0 win.

Nevertheless, the south Londoners are unlikely to savour a trip to Stamford Bridge – they have lost each of the last seven visits and failed to draw blood in the past four. That is something they will want to change.

Remarkably, the Blues will hope to extend our current winning run against Palace to 15 home and away across all competitions – the best sequence against any rival in the club’s history.

We have also found the net against the south Londoners in each of our past 20 Premier League meetings.

Chelsea team news

Enzo Maresca will hope those involved against Servette on Thursday evening survived the unconventional Geneva pitch unscathed – but Reece James and Romeo Lavia have been confirmed as absent due to injury.

The focus against Palace will undoubtedly be to continue the progress showcased against Wolverhampton Wanderers last weekend.

And while the defensive display against Servette will not have eased Maresca's concerns in that area, the Blues appear well-equipped to outscore opponents.

Second-debut goalscorer Joao Felix will hope to net at the Bridge for the first time since March 2023.

Jadon Sancho was signed after the lunchtime cut-off and is unable to feature against the Eagles.

Chelsea vs Crystal Palace – The history

Chelsea are on a run of 13 straight victories home and away against Crystal Palace – and that figure is 14 if you include the 2022 FA Cup semi-final at Wembley.

The Eagles did end their sequence of four blank visits to Fulham Road last season but still succumbed 2-1 after Noni Madueke’s last-minute, VAR-awarded spot-kick. Our starting XI for that victory – played in December – was our youngest in Premier League history.

Next month marks the centenary of this league fixture, a 2-2 Second Division draw in 1924, but the most significant edition came almost a decade ago at the end of the 2014/15 campaign.

A midweek win at Leicester left Jose Mourinho’s side needing three points at home to secure the league title. Alan Pardew’s men kept the hosts at bay until just before half-time when the outstanding Eden Hazard earned and then took a penalty.

The Belgian maestro's attempt was unusually poor and was parried by goalkeeper Julian Speroni. However, Hazard improvised a header to score a goal that secured victory and our fifth Premier League title.

Know this...

The Blues have scored at least two or more goals in seven of the past eight Premier League matches.

Chelsea have not been beaten in our opening two home league matches since 1978/79.

Only Manchester City (22) have recorded more Premier League wins by six or more goals than Chelsea (21).

Chelsea boast the second-best points-per-game record from Premier League derby fixtures since 1992.

Crystal Palace have won just one of their past 21 away Premier League fixtures in the capital.

Premier League London derbies (1992-2024)

Matches

Wins

Draws

Losses

Goal difference