Crystal Palace v Chelsea Betting Tips

Chelsea’s winning run moved into double figures after a tight but professional win over Sunderland, and they now return to London to play Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park. Palace couldn’t hold out against Man Utd at home midweek, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic scoring a last-ditch winner for the visitors two minutes from time to leave Pardew’s side with just one win in 10 in the league. They will struggle to withstand a Chelsea team that has faced far sterner tests in their recent all-conquering run.

Palace have now kept just one clean sheet in their last 21 games, and they can expect more pressure on their leaky back line from a team that has found ways to win against increasingly defensively-minded teams in recent games. After achieving the outstanding aggregate scoreline of 16-0 in the first five matches of their unbeaten streak, Chelsea have an 8-2 aggregate scoreline over their last five, suggesting they are finding the going tougher as teams wise up to their tactics. In any case, the win guarantees that Chelsea will be top of the league at Christmas. They have won the league on each of the four previous occasions that this has happened, so they will be in a rampant mood come Saturday.

Palace have lost eight of their last 10 at home to top-six sides, with the four most recent losses being L/L Half Time/Full Time doubles. Chelsea have had W/W doubles in five of their last 10 at bottom-six teams, and we’re backing them to do that again on Saturday.