Alan Pardew’s Crystal Palace will look to start the New Year in style as they welcome Chelsea to Selhurst Park on Sunday afternoon, and the Eagles will be high on confidence after an impressive start to the 2015-16 Premier League campaign.
A breath of fresh air
Palace have been one of the many revelations in a strange Premier League season so far, exceeding expectations along with teams such as Leicester City and Watford. The Eagles have lost just once in their last nine league fixtures - a disappointing 1-0 loss to relegation-threatened Sunderland - and are currently battling it out in the upper echelons of the table.
Pardew’s side are seventh, in and amongst a number of sides in competition for the European places, in what looks to be one of the tightly-contested battles for places for a number of years. A win against Gus Hiddink’s Chelsea on Sunday would boost the Eagles as high as fifth in the table, a point in front of Manchester United, and Pardew has spoken of the fact that he has “bounded with the chairman” and that Palace’s “fanbase [is] second to none”.
"We have had an unbelievable year"
- Alan Pardew
Describing his side’s year as “unbelievable”, Pardew has no plans to “stand still” as he plans a new contract with the Eagles as well as preparing for some January transfer business, focusing on a striker as his priority before the end of the month. Furthermore, the Englishman described his side as “confident”, but confessed that Chelsea looked “more assured” in their more recent fixtures, and as a result Pardew believes they should be considered the favourites to take all three points.
Beware the wounded animal
For Chelsea and Hiddink, the damage left by the fallout from this season's fall from grace may take a while to be fixed, but they are heading in the right direction. Chelsea are unbeaten since Hiddink took charge, with a 3-1 win over Sunderland, a 2-2 draw at Watford, and a 0-0 stalemate against Manchester United in recent weeks.
It's not the glittering success the Chelsea players are used to after last season's title-winning antics, but there is a sense that the rebuilding process has begun and that the team will be given time to lick their wounds. Despite sitting sixteenth, just three points above the relegation zone, there is no sense that the London club feel truly threatened by the prospect of dropping out of the league; instead, there is a feeling by critics and fans alike that they simply have too much talent to fall into the abyss.
Hiddink, speaking to the press before the visit to Selhurst Park, chose to focus on offering injury news, suggesting that Chelsea's two recent games against Watford and Manchester United were "tough", but that his side had recovered from the "physical intensity", and that there wasn't any "big damage".
Expect a hotly-contested battle between the two come Sunday afternoon at Selhurst Park, as the Eagles look to bring 2016 in as they left the last one: flying high.
Team news
The home side have a number of problems, with Yannick Bolasie, Connor Wickham, Dwight Gayle and Bakary Sako sidelined with injuries, and Yohan Cabaye suspended. Patrick Bamford has also returned to Chelsea after his loan spell ended.
For the visitors, defender Gary Cahill is expected to shake off his minor ankle problem, but Radamel Falcao will again miss out, and Loic Remy is also a doubt. Diego Costa returns from his suspension.
