Talk about Groundhog Day. Once again Chelsea are up against Crystal Palace, and once again Wilfred Zaha is racing to return from injury.
The Ivorian was in the exact same position in October, and he managed to return in time to play, score and condemn the Blues to defeat, while handing Palace their first win of the season.
He also scored in the meeting before that, and Chelsea fans are praying he doesn’t make it a hattrick of wins this weekend.
Against Manchester United and Spurs in their last two games Palace have been superb and deserved points, only to be beaten in the last minute.
That has been without their star man. With him back, it seems very likely they can seriously scare Antonio Conte’s team, who don’t have the quality or fight of those other two teams at the moment.
For a team in a negative spiral like Chelsea, playing a spirited and organised team fighting for it’s life is not the ideal matchup.
