Crystal Palace Vs Chelsea (PL) Sat 17/12 2016 KO 12:30 GMT

63 hours, then at it again.

City vs arsenal 

Everton vs Liverpool. 

This is a huge opportunity. Win and we gain points on city, or arsenal,  or both. And maybe, just maybe, on Liverpool too. 

This is gonna be tough but 3 points here would be massive especially as our rivals have some tough games

And why are we playing a early kick off on Saturday after a late trip to sunderland today. 

I guess at least palace played the same night. 

Players looked a bit tired today, might be worth making a few changes. We don't want them run into the ground over this busy Christmas period.

Our 

26 minutes ago, Zeta Orionis said:

Players looked a bit tired today, might be worth making a few changes. We don't want them run into the ground over this busy Christmas period.

Our next game is boxing day no? We need to win this game this is a huge opportunity. 

We have a good enough squad to field a side good enough to beat Palace while giving a few of the regulars a bit of a rest. This in no way suggests we should take Palace lightly, but I feel we have enough in reserve to grab another 3 points without fielding our strongest 11.

Palace will actually attack compared to our last two games so I can see opportunities to score, even though we need to keep an eye on zaha. 

Come on Chelsea. 

Edited December 15, 20169 yr by Ivanov87

We, as fans (especially the newbies) mustn't get complacent. This run is not going to last forever. On the law of averages,there will be defeats and draws over the next few weeks/months and we have to accept that as part of football,but overall I reckon we're in pretty good shape to challenge for the title come the end of the season, so If, by some horror show over Christmas, we start dropping points, I don't want to see the doom merchants chiming in with their usual "I knew this was too good to be true " stuff, and start slagging the players and Antonio off to high hell. At the end of September we couldn't have believed we would be in th position we're in now so it's worth taking into account how far we've come since then. It's been a a little while since we've been in a situation where we're being lauded by the media for our style of play and consistency, and been in the position we're in now (especially compared to this time last year)..All I'm saying is, if we do have a bit of a blip, stick with it and don't start coming on here and saying what a pile of sh*te we were today  etc, etc.................Chelsea will always come through the end of the tunnel. KTBFFH .

Zaha vs Alonso will be tough to watch.

However, Costa + Hazard vs that Palace defence will be hilarious.

Absolutely love this time of year. 24/7 football.

Another tricky game. 

Need to play our best squad, as the next game after this will be 9 days after this. I hope hazard is back for his game.

 

would go with the same line up but have Willian on instead of pedro. 

Costa has been playing almost every game full time and 3 games in a week would be risky for him.. Time to unleash the bats..

Here are the crystal ball predictions. Great win at Sunderland too, lads:

 

Chelsea (3-4-3): Begovi?; Cahill, Ivanovi?, Terry (c); Kane, Mati?, N. Chalobah, Alonso; Willian, Costa, Hazard

Subs: Courtois, Aina, Luiz, Zouma, Moses, Kanté, Mikel

 

Prediction: Chelsea 1-2 Crystal Palace (Alonso)

 

So, another shock appearance for Todd Kane, while Nathaniel Chalobah also starts. A very defensive bench means there is no one really available to come on and salvage something as Crystal Palace repeats its performance last season at Stamford Bridge by taking the three points. Marcos Alonso scores his first in crystal ball land. Really feeling optimistic about this one, may I add. Time for legs 11!

Hazard back for this one?

We must have Hazard for this game and Diego at a good day. Crystal Palace have always been a tough opponent, they have good players. They're scoring goals, but also can't keep a clean sheet. They scored 28 goals!

I'm not saying we have to play defensively, but we must keep an eye and protect our goal more than Sunderland and West Brom. We've to show a top game, even when we tried and after a long trip, but we still have to show our best, we have another good chance to run away on the table. 

Not many changes are needed, Hazard back in the squad and it's going to be a hard decision. Fabregas had a good game, but putting him in this game kind of a risk, Matic will do good defensively. But I'd go with Fabregas, he can offer us something in the attack as well.

I'd go with this starting lineup:

----------------------------------- Courtois -----------------------------------

-------------- Azpilicueta ------ David Luiz ---------- Cahill ----------------

Moses ----------- Kante ------------ Fabregas ------------ Marcos Alonso

-------------------- Willian ------------------------------ Hazard --------------------

------------------------------- Diego Costa ----------------------------------

COME ON CHELS!!!!!!

They didn't deserve to lose last night against Manure, but their start was pretty poor. Their second half was good and they deserved to equalise. Benteke and Zaha had a tough time with Rojo, who amazingly got away with just a yellow. They didn't park the bus against Manure so I expect an open match from their part.

Should be a win since our forward players are more confortable against teams that try to actually play football. And I wouldn't do any changes in the starting eleven, except Hazard back if he is fit. I am not sure if playing Fabregas against Palace would be wise, probably need to contain the midfield more than against WBA and Sunderland so I'd play Matic. After this match there are 9 days to recover. so i would only rest some players making substitutions during the second half.

Huge game once again. A win would put loads of pressure on everyone of our rivals who all have tough games. So do we as CP away is never easy but we can definitly win this. Hazard got a good little rest and as long as we keep our form defensivly going i can't see them stopping us from scoring over 90 minutes. Think we'll win 1-0 again.

Hopefully Hazard is back for this one.

Palace by all accounts were unlucky against United and it's a notoriously difficult place to go as their fans and atmosphere are superb.

I'd take a draw tbh.

for those that are going to the game, where will you be drinking before? 

13 minutes ago, Chelsbear said:

I'd take a draw tbh.

I will be suicidal if we draw this.

Just now, coco said:

I will be suicidal if we draw this.

lol.

Would it be that bad?

We have a tough run of games coming up and are playing again in 2 days. No many teams goes through the festive period with maximum points no matter the form.

I of course would love to win but we cant win every single game, not realistic.

3 minutes ago, Chelsbear said:

We have a tough run of games coming up and are playing again in 2 days.
 

Makes it extra important to win this doesn't it?

January is a really tough month for us with three out of four games being away and against Tottenham, Leicester and Liverpool. Then Arsenal at home for our first match in february.

So i think its really important we manage to keep our run going into those games. And hopefully have built up a bit of a buffer over our rivals as it's going to be close to impossible to win all of those on the trot.

If we get out of that still on top in the league though we'll be in a wonderful position for the run in.

2 minutes ago, Sindre said:

Makes it extra important to win this doesn't it?

January is a really tough month for us with three out of four games being away and against Tottenham, Leicester and Liverpool. Then Arsenal at home for our first match in february.

So i think its really important we manage to keep our run going into those games. And hopefully have built up a bit of a buffer over our rivals as it's going to be close to impossible to win all of those on the trot.

If we get out of that still on top in the league though we'll be in a wonderful position for the run in.

It's always important to win, every club is the same in that sense. No one goes into a game expecting anything less.

I'm not so worried about the likes of Spuds and Arsenal as those are the sides that will leave gaps and attack us which suits our style down to a tee. It's against the likes of Palace, West Brom and the sort who will look to stifle us and make it hard to implement our football.

CL place is what I am looking for, anything above that is a bonus still for me. This league is so tough and unpredictable that I'm not even thinking about a title yet. If we get to Feb/March in this position that obviously changes but I wont be going overboard