Tuesday night sees a London derby with consequence on the top four race as Chelsea FC travel to Crystal Palace. It’s going to be really fascinating to see what happens in the battle for UEFA Champions League qualification, as Leicester City, Chelsea and Manchester United run third through fifth in the table and they are separated by just three points.
Wolves are right there as well, sitting sixth and three points behind United. Adding more intrigue to how it all shakes out, second place Manchester City are unlikely to see their European ban overturned, meaning the fifth place team is likely to get in.
This reality means that more teams are still in the race than would normally be at this point. Chelsea will need to get as many points as they can from the six game run in, with Palace up next. Manager Frank Lampard is likely to be without his best overall player in N’Golo Kante, but let’s see how he might set up his first team.
Chelsea FC Starting XI Prediction at Crystal Palace (4-2-3-1):
Arrizabalaga; Azpilicueta, Rudiger, Christensen, Alonso; Barkley, Jorginho, Mount; Willian, Pulisic Giroud
Chelsea FC at Crystal Palace FYIs
Kickoff: Tue July 7, 8pm, Selhurst Park
Team news for both sides: go to this link
TV Channel/Live Stream: Sky Sports (UK), fuboTV (US)
Referee: David Coote
Form Guide: Chelsea WLWWW Crystal Palace WWWLL
Position: Chelsea are fourth, up two points on surging Manchester United, one point behind Leicester City. Crystal Palao ce are 14th, well established in safety position.
Prediction: Chelsea 2, Crystal Palace 1
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly contributes to WGN TV, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Now and SB Nation.
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