Over the years Crystal Palace vs Chelsea has been a rather one sided affair in favor of Chelsea, with Palace finding the blues too difficult and too wild to tame. A run of poor form against the blues stretching as far back to the tenure of former Manager Roy Hudson. Selhurst Park has been a successful hunting ground for their London neighbors. As bizarre as it might appear that Potter doesn’t particularly hold a good record against Palace as a manager. He has yet to win any of his last 7 meetings against the eagles.

When asked in today’s press conference about his record against Palace the Chelsea manager responded; “I’ve missed those stats. The margins are small, that’s history and looking forward to the game to change that”. Despite Palace’s reincarnation under Viera, positive results against Chelsea have eluded the South London side since his arrival.

For Chelsea, the controversial and, some would say, premature dismissal of former Champions League winning manager, Thomas Tuchel, looks set to become only one of many administrative changes set to be made by the new owners as a statement of intent.

The mantle of leadership or managerialship, if you like, has now been handed over to Graham Potter. Reports also suggest that his opinion was sought during the club’s ongoing search for a Director of Football. This indicates that Chelsea’s relationship with Potter could be a long-term one, if results correlate with the trust bestowed on the English man, in what looks like adeviation from what has become Chelsea’s ruthless culture of short-term engagement with prominent managers over the years.

Potter, who guided Brighton to a scintillating start to the season, will be hoping to re-create a similar start to life at Chelsea. Rallying a Champions league winning team can prove a difficult task for a manager whose managerial career has just attained a prominent pedestal as a manager at a prestigious club like Chelsea. The result from his first game at the Bridge, a Champions League group stage game against Salzburg which saw his side slip to a 1-1 draw after initially taking the lead, will sure have given Potter a feel of the magnitude of the task ahead if he is to salvage what is left of the intended rebuild this season.

The job is clear: Graham Potter has to save Chelsea’s season from sinking into one that the fans would wish to forget. He is no Harry Potter but he has to entertain spectators by winning! There has to be a massive shift in mentality in the coming gamesto avoid a further dip in form and a storm of scrutiny from those who disapprove of his appointment starting at Palace.

From defending leads to scoring goals, Chelsea are far from solid and fluid in defensive and attacking phases this season.

One can argue that having attacking options as good as Kai Havertz, Aubamayang, Sterling, Broja, Pulisic, Ziyech and Mount to pick from, most of who are out of form, doesn’t make it easier, it is however Potter’s job to rekindle the fire in them.

Although Chelsea have new owners, Tuchel’s sacking means Chelsea remains Chelsea through and through. Graham Potter and his coaching team must understand that the demands of the new owners are similar to the demands from Chelsea fans – win. If anything, the new owners have proven not to be afraid to make changes regardless of the financial consequences. They are also not afraid to make changes when a system or idea isn’t correlating with results or similar to the job he did with the Seagulls, Potter had time to experiment.

At Chelsea, you are judged based on results. The expectations are a world apart. A winning start would be the perfect way to open his managerial account with the blues. Again, everyone knows this, even those who seldom admit it: that time is a generally scarce commodity, but it gets even scarcer at Chelsea Football Club.

Chelsea team news for tomorrow :

Graham Porter and the Chelsea faithfuls can lick their lips in delight as the imminent arrival of first choice Goalkeeper Edward Mendy has been boosted with the news that the Senegalese had resumed full training ahead of their trip to Palace. Although, not available for selection this weekend. But prior to his injury, the former UEFA goalkeeper of the year looks to have had a slight dip in form since the start of the new season. Making notable errors leading to goals whilst casting doubts over his inclusion in the first team. A spell on the sidelines is expected to do him more good than harm as Porter will be needing his first choice goalie for a crucial run of games in October.

The biggest team news has to be the resumption of N’Golo Kante to first team training this week, also unavailable for selection for the weekend game against Palace despite resuming training. But according to manager Graham Porterwhen asked about the latest on players returning from injury, he went on to add; “They’re fine in terms of coming through the rehab stages and NG has been on the grass. Maybe next week for him. Bit of illness for Marc Cucurella”…

The France international had been out on the sidelines since picking up ahamstring injury against Spurs at the bridge. Chelsea and Potter will need the likes of Kai Harvatz, Sterling and Mason Mount to channel their brilliant performances at Wembley few days agowhile invading Selhurst Park. If Palace are a hard nut to crack, you’ll need your biggest stones to crush them.

Taking a look at Crystal Palace :

This will undoubtedly be a difficult fixture for Crystal Palace, avoiding defeat against Chelsea proves to be a huge task ahead for the eagles looking at the records. Not unless Chelsea fail to make life difficult for their opponents as they haven’t in recent weeks. Palace’s last win against Chelsea came as far back as 2017. However, the form of club talisman Wilfred Zaha could well prove vital if the eagles are to cause a major upset on Saturday. Zaha, Marteta and Eze have started the season on the front foot and will likely cause Chelsea’s defense a handful of problems.

Joachim Anderson’s eye catching start to the season makes it an interesting encounter to watch alongside former Chelsea academy graduate Marc Guehi against Chelsea’s herd of inconsistent attackers. While in the middle of the park CheickDoucoure, Jeffrey Schlupp and Eberechi Eze are some of Crystal Palace’s top performers this season bar Zaha. Docoure played the current season at an average of 1.7 interceptions per game with 51% success in the ground duels according to crowd wisdom 360. Eze has maintained an average of 1.5 key passes per match. He also assisted a goal and created 3 big chances for the Eagles already this season.

Palace will likely hit Chelsea on the counter with the pace of Zaha drifting out wide to find spaces he can exploit. In as much as Porter’s reliance on experience against Salzburg looks to have salvaged a point, Palace are a more familiar foe and will look to exploit the leggy veterans in Cesar Aszpilicueta and Thiago Silva in defense with the pace and trickery of the in – form Ivorian winger Zaha.

Crystal Palace vs Chelsea’s potential line up

Chelsea are likely to field a similar line up to how they lined up against Salzburg in the champions league. Sterling is likely to keep his place alongside Kai Havertz in the attack. While Chelsea fans wouldn’t like to see captain Cesar Aszpilicueta come up against Wilfred Zaha’s pace and trickery, it will only be a prudent move to have the ever so reliable club captain start from the bench, with either of Fofana or Koulibaly replacing the Spaniard to match the winger pace for pace.

Chelsea potential line up : (3-1-4-2): Kepa; Fofana, Silva, Koulibaly; James, Mount, Chilwell, Jorginho, Kovacic, Kai Havertz, Raheem Sterling

Palace are very much likely to line up in their familiar (4-3-3): GK Guaita; Mitchell, Guehi, Andersen, Ward; Schlupp, Doucoure, Eze; Zaha, Mateta, Ayew

My preferred Chelsea line up :

Chelsea (3-1-4-2): Kepa, Fofana, Silva, Koulibaly, James,Chilwell, Jorginho, Kovacic, Mount, Havertz, Sterling.

My score Prediction : Crystal Palace 0-2 Chelsea