Premier League: Crystal Palace vs Chelsea betting preview

Crystal Palace

It’s been a tough campaign for Palace, who are only five points above safety in 15th place. They own a 6-6-11 record and have struggled to find consistency. The Eagles have only bagged 26 goals in 23 outings while conceding 40 times. Nothing to write home about. Eberechi Eze’s three goals are a team-best but he’s currently sidelined to to injury and hasn’t played since late January. His absence is surely felt in the middle of the park.

Roy Hodgson’s men looked poor last weekend against Brighton and were up against the wall early. The Seagulls scored three times within the first 34 minutes before Palace got one back in the 71st minute. However, Joao Pedro put the game to bed with another goal for the Seagulls just before injury time.

Palace is just 2-0-3 in their last five Premier League outings and have actually lost three of their previous five matches across all competitions. To make matters worse, they’ve tasted defeat 12 straight times to Chelsea, which is a Premier League record. The hosts are sitting at +350 odds for Monday’s encounter at 888sport.

Chelsea

There’s really no other way to put it. It’s been a terrible season for Chelsea to their standards. Despite spending a boatload of money in the past few transfer windows, all they have to show for is 31 points, which puts the Blues in 11th place. Far from where a club of this stature should be. While the victory over Villa in the FA Cup was promising, it doesn’t change the fact that Chelsea has lost back-to-back EPL games to Liverpool and Wolves, being outscored 8-3 in the process. The Blues conceded four times in each match.

Yes, this is a very new group of players but at this point, they should be accustomed to each other and producing results. There’s really no excuse for such a poor record. In the final third, Cole Palmer has been the leading catalyst with 10 goals and four assists in 19 appearances. Raheem Sterling has also netted five, while Nicolas Jackson has seven goals to his name.

Mauricio Pochettino’s side have a tough spell ahead after the Palace game, facing Man City, Tottenham, and Liverpool in the League Cup. Chelsea is a massive favorite on Monday at all soccer betting sites.

Injury news

Aside from Eze, Palace will also be without the services of Marc Guehi, Cheick Doucoure, and Rob Holding. Definitely a few absences for the hosts. As for Chelsea, Marc Cucurella, Reece James, Wesley Fofana, Romeo Lavia, and Robert Sanchez are all still hurt.