Chelsea v Palace

Stamford Bridge, Saturday 3.00pm

Vassilis Lakis

Team news

Greek international Vassilis Lakis is suspended after his red card against Man Utd but Darren Powell and Aki Riihilahti return from injury.

Nicola Ventola (fractured ankle), Tommy Black (broken leg) and Danny Butterfield (hernia) are all still out.

Chelsea's Arjen Robben faces a late fitness test, Scott Parker (foot) and Ricardo Carvalho are available again and Carvalho is likely to replace Robert Huth, while Didier Drogba (groin) is doubtful.

Iain Dowie said: "I'm not in the business of worrying what Jose Mourinho says. I'm interested in counter-acting what he does on the field.

"If he makes bad comments about my team then I don't worry about that.

"He is a manager who is absolutely serious about his art and that means he is meticulous about his preparation and that is the way it should be."

Chelsea - league stats

Full league table

Chelsea - current form

Full form table

Our away record v Chelsea

Last five results

Date	Type	Home Team	Score	Away Team
24/08/2004	League	Crystal Palace	0 - 2	Chelsea
11/03/1998	League	Chelsea	6 - 2	Crystal Palace
13/09/1997	League	Crystal Palace	0 - 3	Chelsea
05/03/1995	League	Chelsea	0 - 0	Crystal Palace
24/09/1994	League	Crystal Palace	0 - 1	Chelsea

All time results

One to watch

Damien Duff

What with St Paddy’s Day coming two days before Saturday’s crunch match in the Russian suburb of Chelsea – what better way to choose this week’s one to watch by having a mercurial Irishman as the topic to conclude the preview this week.

Standing at 175cm tall, having been bought for £17m by Claudio Ranieri as one of the first signings with Abramovich’s oil-stained money, Damien Duff remains as one of the best wingers in the Premiership. Hanging wide on the left hand side with his sun-kissed blonde hair, Duff terrorises every full back he can get his Irish mitts on.

Lightning pace is a big part of Duff’s game, he uses this to both his and his team’s advantage. Bombing up and down the flanks to great effect combined with a sensible amount of skill are something that do put Duff ahead of most wingers in English football. Duff’s 6 Premiership goals may not seem like a lot considering where he plays and the position in which Chelski sit in the league, but when the bulk of Chelsea’s attacking play goes through Frank Lampard – Duff’s creativity, pulling away markers, allowing Lampard to plough through teams’ midfield is another big plus for Duff’s in my book.

Duff is just another fixture in what is an awesome line-up – pace all over the park, strength and willingness to dig in and grind out results are what will win Dinamo Chelski their first top-flight title in over 50 years.

Saying that, Mr Duff could still be hungover from one too many pints of the black stuff, doesn’t mean Boycey should be taking any chances though.....

Probable line-up

Johnson
Kolkka	Hughes	Riihilahti	Soares	Routledge
Granville	Sorondo	Hall	Boyce
Kiraly

Last meeting

Premiership - 11/3/98 - 19:45

Chelsea 6-2 Crystal Palace Vialli 15, 44 Hreidarsson 7 Zola 17 Bent 87 Wise 84 Flo 89, 90

Chelsea: Kharin, Petrescu, Leboeuf, Clarke, Vialli (Flo 75), Wise, Granville, Sinclair (Lambourde 82), Newton, Zola, Morris (Hughes 85) Subs not used: Hitchcock, Charvet

C Palace: Miller, Edworthy, Tuttle (Bent 79), Dyer (Lombardo 66), Brolin, Rodger, Smith, Ismael, Hreidarsson, Emblen (Jansen 66), Fullarton Subs not used Linighan,Nash,

Bookings: Granville (Chelsea) Dyer, Emblen (C Palace)

Attendance: 31917

Referee: M A Riley (W. Yorkshire)

Prediction league

0 members have predicted for this game so far.

Make your prediction on this game

Away travel info

Click here