Chelsea vs Crystal Palace ( WON )

Team News

Chelsea

• Eden Hazard has missed the last three matches for Chelsea with a back problem but looks set to return to contention for the visit of Crystal Palace on Sunday.
• Olivier Giroud will miss out this weekend, but Alvaro Morata should keep his place regardless of having played the full ninety minutes against Derby in midweek.
• Ross Barkley was rested for that game and will keep his place from last weekend, meaning Mateo Kovacic and Cesc Fabregas will have to make do with a place on the bench once again.

Missing Players

Player	Reason	Status	Rating
Olivier Giroud		Out	6.79
Eden Hazard		Doubtful	8.04
Ethan Ampadu		Doubtful	N/A

Team News

Crystal Palace

• Christian Benteke, Joel Ward and Scott Dann are long-term absentees, though the latter will hope to make his return by the end of the month.
• Connor Wickham has picked up a new thigh strain and will also miss out for the Eagles on Sunday, but James McArthur, Wilfried Zaha and Cheikhou Kouyaté have recovered from knocks and will featue at Stamford Bridge.

Missing Players

Player	Reason	Status	Rating
Christian Benteke		Out	6.79
Joel Ward		Out	6.36
Connor Wickham		Out	5.8
Scott Dann		Out	N/A

Top Players

Chelsea	Crystal Palace
Ratings
E. Hazard 8.04 Willian 7.37 M. Alonso 7.27	A. Wan-Bissaka 7.4 L. Milivojevic 7.03 W. Zaha 6.98
Goals
E. Hazard 7 Pedro 3 Á. Morata 3	W. Zaha 3 L. Milivojevic 2 P. v. Aanholt 1
Assists
O. Giroud 4 E. Hazard 3 R. Barkley 3	J. Ayew 1 P. v. Aanholt 1 W. Zaha 1

• Chelsea had to come through a tough test against Derby in midweek and Maurizio Sarri had to call upon the likes of N’Golo Kante, Willian and Alvaro Morata for the entire ninety minutes.
• Palace will look to exploit any potential fatigue given the Blues’ busy schedule so far, but they too had a difficult test in the cup, crashing out to Middlesbrough despite fielding some first team stars.
• The Eagles are well equipped to play on the counter against a possession dominant side and have won three of the last six meetings between these sides but the Blues should brush them aside this time around.