Chelsea v Palace

Stamford Bridge, Sunday 4.00pm

Connor Wickham

Team news

Crystal Palace striker Connor Wickham has recovered from the knee injury that has kept him sidelined for almost two years but has now picked up a thigh strain and won't play.

Centre half Scott Dann (knee) continues his rehab, while right back Joel Ward and midfielder Jonny Williams still have muscle injuries. Christian Benteke is recovering from his knee operation.

Chelsea star Eden Hazard is expected to start on the bench as he makes a return from a back problem. Midfielder Ross Barkley is likely to come back into the side after being rested in midweek.

Quotes

Roy Hodgson

"The task is a daunting one because they’re unbeaten. That’s an incredibly good start to the season and they’ve done that playing good football.

"We can’t disguise the enormity of the task, we can’t try to make out it’s going to be easier than it’s going to be but we’ve played Liverpool here, we’ve played Arsenal – there’s two teams in the same ballpark as Chelsea, two very good teams. And on both occasions I think we played well and did more than just compete.

"We know that at our best, when we play our best and work as hard as we did against Arsenal we can make life difficult for even the very best of teams and we’ll have to try and do the same again against Chelsea. Because we’re playing a team once again with an awful lot of extremely good players who can hurt you at any moment."

Maurizio Sarri

"I don’t want to think about the record [of going 11 games unbeaten], we have to only think about the match and to gain points. The record is only a consequence of the result, of the match. I have to send the message to my players that only this match is the thing that is important. The rest is a consequence.

"In the last match against Derby they played a very good match. I think we played well in the offensive phase, many mistakes in the defensive phase.

"It is clear that we have to improve in the defensive phase. I am used in the first months to have problems like this. At Burnley I saw a very good performance defensively and three days after I saw a lot of mistakes. It means we are not a solid team at the moment with continuity, it is dangerous."

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Andy Newton's stat pack

– Last year’s repeat fixture ended, Chelsea 2-1 Palace

– 2 of the last 3 repeat fixture ended, Chelsea 1-2 Palace

– Palace have won 3 of the last 6 head-to-heads 2-1

– 5 of the last 6 head-to-heads went OVER 2.5 GOALS

– 6 of the last 10 head-to-heads ended 2-1 (either way)

No draws in the last 14 head-to-heads

– 6 of the last 7 repeat fixtures went OVER 2.5 GOALS

For all the Premier League head-to-head stats, visit Juice Storm.

Chelsea - league stats

Full league table

Last five results

Date	Type	Home Team	Score	Away Team
10/03/2018	League	Chelsea	2 - 1	Crystal Palace
14/10/2017	League	Crystal Palace	2 - 1	Chelsea
01/04/2017	League	Chelsea	1 - 2	Crystal Palace
17/12/2016	League	Crystal Palace	0 - 1	Chelsea
03/01/2016	League	Crystal Palace	0 - 3	Chelsea

All time results

Last meeting

Chelsea 2-1 Palace

Saturday March 10 2018

Chelsea: Courtois, Christensen, Cahill, Azpilicueta, Fabregas (Pedro, 88), Alonso, Zappacosta, Kante, Hazard (Bakayoko, 88), Giroud (Morata, 72), Willian

Subs not used: Ampadu, Caballero, Moses, Emerson

Goals: Willian (25), Kelly (32, og)

Bookings: Morata

Palace: Hennessey, Wan-Bissaka, Tomkins, van Aanholt, Kelly, Milivojevic, McArthur, Townsend (Lee, 81), Schlupp (Riedewald, 75), Sorloth, Benteke (Zaha, 45)

Subs not used: Sakho, Cavalieri, Souare, Fosu-Mensah

Goals: van Aanholt (90)

Bookings: Tomkins, van Aanholt

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