Crystal Palace and Chelsea lock horns in a Premier League London derby at Selhurst Park on this evening.
The Blues make the short trip to SE25 after recovering from their first significant setback under Thomas Tuchel - that embarrassing 5-2 home thrashing by relegation-threatened West Brom - to put one foot in the Champions League semi-finals with a comfortable 2-0 last-eight first-leg win over FC Porto in Seville.
Chelsea will be keen to ensure that they do not take their eye off the ball here with the second leg of that tie to come on Tuesday before the small matter of an FA Cup semi-final clash with Manchester City at Wembley next weekend.
West Ham and Tottenham not being in action unti Sunday gives them a chance to at least temporarily return to the fourth spot relinquished in such shocking fashion against the Baggies at Stamford Bridge.
Opponents Palace, meanwhile, bounced back from their second-half collapse against Tottenham with a narrow win over West Brom and a spirited draw at Champions League-chasing Everton on Monday night, in which Michy Batshuayi came off the bench to score a late equaliser.
The Eagles now sit six places and 12 points above the relegation zone with only eight games left to play this season ahead of a likely summer of significant change.
Date, time and venue
Crystal Palace vs Chelsea is scheduled for a 5:30pm BST kick-off today, April 10, 2021.
The match will be held behind closed doors at Selhurst Park due to ongoing Covid-19 restrictions.
How to watch Crystal Palace vs Chelsea
TV channel: Today’s match will be televised live on Sky Sports’ Main Event and Premier League channels, with coverage beginning at 5pm.
Live stream: Sky Sports subscribers will be able to watch the match online via the Sky Go app.
Crystal Palace vs Chelsea team news
Chelsea will definitely be without Thiago Silva, whose eagerly anticipated return from a thigh injury ended in a first-half red card that sparked the meltdown against West Brom.
N’Golo Kante and Christian Pulisic were both fit enough for cameos against Porto on Wednesday after respective hamstring issues, while Tammy Abraham (ankle) was an unused substitute in Seville.
Batshuayi will not have a chance to build on his late heroics at Goodison Park, given that he is currently on loan at Palace from Chelsea and therefore ineligible to face his parent club this weekend.
Nathaniel Clyne and James McCarthy remain doubts, while the likes of James McArthur, Nathan Ferguson, Mamadou Sakho and James Tomkins are all injured.
Crystal Palace vs Chelsea prediction
Palace are surely safe from any lingering relegation fears and the challenge now is not to let the season simply drift away aimlessly amid big decisions set to be made regarding the future of Roy Hodgson and several members of the first-team squad.
Tuchel, meanwhile, will demand that Chelsea prove that nightmare capitulation against West Brom was merely a one-off aberration not to be repeated.
They can ill-afford further costly slip-ups in the top-four race. Normal service to be resumed.
0-2 away win.
Crystal Palace vs Chelsea head to head (h2h) results
Crystal Palace wins: 4
Draws: 2
Chelsea wins: 17
Last meeting: Chelsea 4-0 Crystal Palace (03/10/2020)
Betting odds and tips (subject to change)
Crystal Palace win: 7/1
Draw: Between 3/1 & 16/5
Chelsea win: 4/7
Chelsea to win 2-0: 13/2
