Chelsea square off against Crystal Palace at Wembley in the second semi-final of the FA Cup on Sunday evening with kickoff at 18:30.
Only Premier league sides made it to this stage of the competition and these two will battle for place in the final against either Liverpool or Manchester City who take on each other in the first semi-final on Saturday. Chelsea saw off Championship outfits Middlesbrough in the quarter-finals with a 2-0 win, while Crystal Palace ran rampant on a fellow Premier League opponent Everton, knocking them out with a 4-0 victory.
Chelsea are coming off a heartbreaking 3-2 victory against Real Madrid in the second leg of their semi-final tie at Bernabeu last Tuesday night, as despite the victory they were still knocked out of the competition with a 5-4 defeat on aggregate. Thomas Tuchel’s side meant business on the day and romped into a 3-0 lead, but Madrid refused to see their efforts in the first leg go to waste as substitute Rodrygo levelled the scores on aggregate with his 80th minute goal, before Karim Benzema broke Chelsea’s hearts in the first half of the extra time.
Having fallen behind in the Premier League title race and having also seen their League Cup run end in a painful shoot-out defeat to Liverpool in the final, the FA Cup remains Chelsea’s only chance to lift some silverware this season.
Therefore it will be interesting to see how they respond against a formidable and determined Crystal Palace here, although they have won all their last 10 games against the Eagles and should be confident here.
Meanwhile Crystal Palace fell to a 2-1 defeat to Leicester City in the Premier League last Sunday, ending their impressive run of seven unbeaten matches across all competitions. They will not dwell on that though as they have already secured Premier League survival and will be focused on the semifinal fully on Sunday.
Palace have only reached the final of the Fa Cup twice losing both times to Manchester United and they are determined to take another shot at the trophy, although the likes of Chelsea and Liverpool or Manchester City stand in their way.
However, the Eagles certainly have the firepower and determination to cause their opponents problems, having beaten the likes of Man City, Tottenham and Arsenal in a hugely impressive Premier league campaign.
Chelsea vs Crystal Palace head to head
Both sides have met in 25 encounters since 1994 with Chelsea claiming 20 victories while Crystal Palace have claimed four victories and there have been one draw.
- Crystal Palace 0-1 Chelsea 19/02/22
- Chelsea 3-0 Crystal Palace 14/08/21
- Crystal Palace 1-4 Chelsea 10/04/21
- Chelsea 4-0 Crystal Palace 03/10/20
- Crystal Palace 2-3 Chelsea 07/07/20
Home
- Real Madrid 2-3 Chelsea
- Southampton 0-6 Chelsea
- Chelsea 1-2 Real Madrid
- Chelsea 1-4 Brentford
- Middlesbrough 0-2 Chelsea
Away
- Leicester 2-1 Crystal Palace
- Crystal Palace 3-0 Arsenal
- Crystal Palace 4-0 Everton
- Crystal Palace 0-0 Man City
- Wolves 0-2 Crystal Palace
Chelsea team news
Chelsea will still be without ben Chilwell and Callum Hudson Odoi due to injuries, while Romelu Lukaku is a doubt.
Crystal Palace team news
Crystal Palace have no injury concerns although Conor Gallagher will miss the clash as he ineligible to play against his parent club.
Prediction and odds
- Chelsea win
- Both sides to score
- Goals over 2.5
