Crystal Palace vs Chelsea
After picking up the prestigious title of Club World Cup champions in Dubai, Chelsea are back in Premier League action this weekend as they face Crystal Palace for a London derby at Selhurst Park.
The Blues have not been in the best of form in the Premier League. They’ve won just two of their last eight league outings and have fallen away in the title race.
However, the Premier League 2022 betting odds will have them heavily favoured against the freefalling Eagles, who have also been struggling to start the year.
Talking Points
Chelsea in need of confidence boost
Chelsea were crowned Club World Cup champions for the first time in their history after beating Al Hilal and Palmeiras in Dubai.
It was a nice confidence-booster for Thomas Tuchel’s men to pick up another trophy, especially after the rough Premier League 2022 results they’d recently picked up. They had gone four games without a win before beating Tottenham 2-0 in late January.
Although, it was a bit concerning that Chelsea did not look too convincing against either Al Hilal or Palmeiras. In fact, they needed a late penalty in extra time from Kai Havertz to beat the South American champions in the final.
Nonetheless, Chelsea can pick up at least one positive from their trip, and that is that Romelu Lukaku scored in both games. The big Belgian had been in poor form with no goals in his previous six appearances, but scoring in back-to-back games could do his confidence a world of good.
Unfortunately, Chelsea will be without key midfielder Mason Mount, who picked up an ankle injury in the Club World Cup final. Ruben Loftus-Cheek is also a doubt. But Jorginho should be relatively fresh after playing just one half in Dubai.
Tuchel could also make a few more rotations to his side with their Champions League round-of-16 first leg against Lille coming up next week.
Eagles still in freefall
After a promising start to his tenure as Crystal Palace manager, Patrick Vieira has led the Eagles to a poor start to 2022. They have failed to win any of their first five league games in the new year, with two losses and three draws.
Perhaps the one bright spot amid Palace’s poor start to the year is the emergence of Michael Olise. The 20-year-old has been in fantastic form, scoring three goals and setting up four others in six games in all competitions in 2022.
Olise was only brought on as a late substitute in their recent goalless draw with Brentford, though, and it seems unlikely Vieira will trust the youngster to start against Chelsea over veteran wingers Wilfried Zaha and Jordan Ayew.
Palace will be missing one key attacker against Chelsea, with on-loan midfielder Conor Gallagher set to sit out against his parent club. Thankfully, Cheikhou Kouyate looks set to make his return to the side after helping Senegal win the Africa Cup of Nations.
Crystal Palace have a decent home record this season. They have four wins and five draws with just three defeats in 12 league games at Selhurst Park. However, they have lost their last two home games against West Ham and Liverpool, conceding three goals in both games.
History
Chelsea have utterly dominated Crystal Palace in the Premier League era. The Blues have won 19 of their 25 meetings in the top flight, with Palace winning just four times.
Chelsea are currently on an eight-game winning streak against Crystal Palace. They won their first meeting of the season 3-0 thanks to goals from Marcos Alonso, Christian Pulisic and Trevoh Chalobah. The Blues have scored three or more goals against the Eagles in each of their last four meetings.
Betting Tip
 |
 | Crystal Palace vs Chelsea | Under 2.50 @ 1.85 |
| February 19, 23:00 (GMT+8) |
SBOTOP odds fancy Chelsea at 1.66 odds to beat Crystal Palace, who are priced at 5.20 to pull off an upset at home. Meanwhile, a draw is at 3.65.
Along with Chelsea’s unconvincing form of late, there is also a danger of a Club World Cup hangover against Crystal Palace, especially with their Champions League encounter against Lille coming so soon after.
With Crystal Palace desperate for a positive result after their recent struggles, this has the potential to be quite a cagey encounter that won’t feature too many goals scored.
A SHORT EXPLANATION ON HOW OUR (⭐) BETS ARE WORTH:
⭐⭐⭐= €20 (HIGHLY CONFIDENT)
⭐⭐= €10 (CONFIDENT))
⭐= €5 (SOMEWHAT CONFIDENT)
Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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