Nizaar Kinsella

Chelsea Team News: Injuries, suspensions and line-up vs Crystal Palace

The Blues remain undefeated in the league as they prepare to for a London derby against a bogey team from the south of the city

Chelsea welcome Crystal Palace to Stamford Bridge for their third London derby of the season, as Maurizio Sarri's side aim to go 16 games unbeaten in all competitions.

Roy Hodgson's outfit were knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Middlesbrough on Wednesday, while the Blues squeezed passed Frank Lampard's Derby County in a 3-2 win, despite a sub-par display.

Chelsea were much better in their recent 4-0 Premier League win over Burnley, while Palace drew 2-2 at home to Arsenal to halt a run of three defeats that saw them slide towards the relegation zone.

Chelsea Injuries

Eden Hazard is back in training and he is set for a return against Palace, after missing almost two weeks with a back injury that he sustained against Manchester United. Maurizio Sarri issued an update on Hazard's fitness ahead of the game.

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"Eden yesterday he had a large part of the training with the team," He said at Cobham. "It may be he will not be ready for 90 minutes yet. It was the first part of training for a few weeks. He might be able to play for 40/45 minutes."

Ethan Ampadu is also back in training but he will struggle to make the squad amid competition from more experienced players.

Olivier Giroud is a doubt after suffering fatigue in his leg, although he could be brought back to face Palace. Pedro overcame his recent sickness to make a substitute appearance against Derby in the cup.

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Chelsea Suspensions

Neither Chelsea nor Crystal Palace have any players out with suspensions ahead of Sunday's clash, while there are no players in danger of bans should they pick up yellow cards.

Chelsea Potential Starting Line-Up

Hazard will likely be thrown back in the side as Sarri will look to play his strongest possible side, as the upcoming Europa League fixture will feature a second-string XI in a group that is close to being won already.

Morata has started the last two games but Sarri could opt to play Giroud for his height against a team which defends deep and likes to hit their rivals on the counterattack.

Ross Barkley seems to be establishing himself as a starter ahead of Mateo Kovacic on the left side of midfield, while the rested players from midweek will return, including the likes of Marcos Alonso, Antonio Rudiger, Jorginho and Kepa Arrizabalaga.

Possible Chelsea XI GFX to face Crystal Palace

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Crystal Palace Team News

Christian Benteke is out after having an operation on his knee, while the defensive duo of Joel Ward and Scott Dann are expected to miss the match on Sunday with minor issues.

TV channel & kick-off time

The match at Stamford Bridge kicks off at 16:00 BST on Sunday and it will be shown on Sky Sports in the UK.

Best Opta Match Facts

Crystal Palace have won two of their last three away league games against Chelsea (L1), more than they had in their previous 18 combined at Stamford Bridge (W1 D8 L9).
Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri is unbeaten in his first 10 Premier League games as a manager (W7 D3 L0) – only one manager has had a longer unbeaten start, with Frank Clark managing 11 without defeat with Nottingham Forest in 1994.
Four of Chelsea’s last eight Premier League goals have been scored by English players (three Barkley, one Loftus-Cheek) – excluding own-goals, prior to this run just four of their previous 100 goals were scored by Englishmen.
Ross Barkley has scored in each of his last three Premier League games for Chelsea – only two Englishmen have scored in four in a row for the Blues, with Frank Lampard doing so on three separate occasions (2005, 2010 and 2013) and Mark Stein scoring in seven in a row in 1994.
Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri has won his four Premier League matches against British managers (Howe, Warnock, Hughes and Dyche) by an aggregate score of 13-1.