Chelsea face Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park in just over an hour, and the teams are in!
Here are the full team line-ups for Crystal Palace vs Chelsea (kick off at 14:00 GMT)
CHELSEA:
Chelsea's team to face Crystal Palace.
Chelsea’s team to face Crystal Palace.
This was always going to be an interesting team selection from Liam Rosenior. Three points are absolutely vital, but he also knows that beating Napoli next week is huge too.
In the end he picks close to a full strength side. Robert Sanchez is in goal, with Reece James at right back, Marc Cucurella at left back, and Trevoh Chalobah central. The only deviation from our dream back four is Benoit Badiashile, who comes in to replace Wesley Fofana, who is rested after starting in midweek.
The midfield is interesting – the Andrey Santos – Moises Caicedo double pivot is back. That pushes Enzo Fernandez forward into the number ten role. Estevao is on the right wing, Pedro Neto on the left, and Joao Pedro leads the line.
That means no Cole Palmer – he’s not in the squad at all, despite training on Friday. Hopefully this extended rest keeps doing him good. His situation is rapidly becoming worrying. However given his poor form of late, we’re excited to see Estevao starting and Enzo in the 10.
Let’s go out there, play some front foot football, build some confidence, and go to Naples with our chests out and three points in our back pocket.
In other news…
Liam Delap is going to score some more goals – we just know it. His boss believes in him too. Liam Rosenior’s pre-match words confirmed his own belief in his striker.
Trevoh Chalobah will start against his old club Crystal Palace today, and an article has pointed out how “absurd” Chelsea’s decision to loan him out last season looks in hindsight.
More Stories about Cole Palmer
Liam Rosenior applauds the Chelsea fans.
Cole Palmer is consoled by Liam Rosenior.
Fabrizio Romano speaks about Chelsea's January transfer plans.