Chelsea is fast becoming the Premier League’s (PL) entertainers, although they have won only two of their previous five fixtures in the competition (W2, D1, L2). Each one of those fixtures had over 1.5 goals, and interestingly, three of the matches saw 2+ goals before half-time.
The ‘Blues’ were strong at home last season (W11, D3, L5), scoring first in 73.68% of their home league matches, and also netting in the 15 minutes before half-time in each of their final four such matches. However, they conceded 68.75% of their home goals after the break.
Crystal Palace suffered their first defeat of the season last week against Everton (W2, L1), making it just one clean sheet in 11 PL matches. Notably, they have conceded eight of their previous 13 PL ‘goals against’ in the first half, including both last weekends.
At the other end of the pitch, goals don’t tend to come in sets, as Palace have scored over 2.5 in just one of their previous 41 PL fixtures. On the subject of goals, the ‘Eagles’ also finished the last campaign failing to score any in their final four away matches.
They look sharper this season though, especially in the early stages, and have scored three goals before the 30th minute so far. Remarkably, that is already just one fewer than their total for this period last season.
Players to watch: Chelsea forward Tammy Abraham scored last week and he netted home and away vs Palace last season, all three of those efforts came after half-time.
Palace’s Wilfried Zaha has three career goals vs Chelsea, including one in the most recent H2H meeting.
Hot stat: Chelsea has won 132 of their 256 PL London derbies – the highest win rate (51.56%) for any London team.