Crystal Palace will be cursing their luck and in part, the referee, after Manchester United got the better off them in a 1-2 victory at the Selhurst Park. At one point it seemed that they might even pull off an upset and get something out of the game but Zlatan Ibrahimovic and a part of his arm made sure that it was not to be for the Eagles.
Palace were beginning to gather some momentum after a horrendous run of games where they lost 6 in a row. A 3-0 win against Southampton got the hopes high and although the next one was a typical Palace game with no emphasis on defence, it was nonetheless a 3-3 draw. But with a difficult run of fixtures coming up, they would have preferred to have a few more points in the bag before facing the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea within the span of 3 games.
Alan Pardew is on thin ice and he will know the results of the next 5 games or so will decide his future at the club. And he has to get his defence sorted in time. They have been inventive and their long ball approach has also worked but due to the complete lack of solidity in midfield and in defence, things have turned sour for them in the League.
PREDICTED CRYSTAL PALACE LINE-UP VS CHELSEA (4-4-1-1)
DEFENCE
Wayne Hennessey will once again deputise for Steve Mandanda as the latter is yet to recover from his injury. He will have a busy day in office with the rampaging Chelsea, visitors, to the Selhurst Park. Pardew is likely to go with a 4-man defence which will see Martin Kelly and Joel Ward take up the full-back positions. They will be spending most of the time in their own half and have to try and neutralise the likes of Alonso and Moses. Delaney and Dann will most likely be the centre-back pairing and have to be on top of their game.
MIDFIELD
Pardew has employed a four-man midfield and might repeat the formation again. The players have to be full of running and they have to get stuck into the likes of Fabregas and Kante. Yohan Cabaye and Joe Ledley are likely to line up in midfield. Chug Yong Lee is likely to be on the left side of midfield with McArthur on the right.
ATTACK
Palace might go with two up top in Zaha and Benteke. The contrasting style of both the players is likely to cause some discomfort for the Chelsea defenders who haven’t had to deal with too much physicality in the box aerially till now.
