Image copyright: Getty Images
2024/25 English Premier League
Matchday 3
Chelsea v Crystal Palace
Stamford Bridge
London, England
Sunday, 1 September 2024
Kick-off is at 14h30
Chelsea will be aiming to build on their first win of the new
Premier League season when London rivals Crystal Palace visit Stamford Bridge on Sunday, September 1.
The Blues got the Enzo Maresca era up and running with an emphatic 6-2 victory over Wolves at Molineux after suffering a 2-0 defeat to defending champions Manchester City on the opening weekend.
Noni Madueke caught the eye with his first senior hat-trick as the West Londoners moved up to eighth in the standings on goal difference ahead of West Ham (9th), Fulham (10th), Manchester United (11th), Aston Villa (12th) and Brentford (13th), with all six clubs tied on three points.
The Eagles (17th) have already been involved in two city derbies and are still searching for their first points of 2024-25 after losing to the Bees (2-1) at the Brentford Community Stadium and the Hammers (2-0) at Selhurst Park.
It is not the start Oliver Glasner would have hoped for after finishing the previous campaign so strongly with six wins and a draw from their final seven games.
Palace's record against Chelsea does not make for good reading though, as they've lost 13 on the trot since claiming back-to-back league wins in 2017.
Image Source: Alamy Stock Photo
Maresca sung the praises of Madueke, not so much for his contribution in front of goal, but the fact that he prevented Wanderers from springing counter-attacks down the left flank with his tireless workrate.
"I can judge Noni's performance, which was fantastic," the Italian said. "Not only second half, even first half the first 10 or 15 minutes he was always one-v-one creating something.
"Since day one I said he's the kind of winger I really like. He is working very good with us, but the best thing today from Noni was not the hat-trick, it was the way he defended for 90 minutes the counter-attacks.
"That showed the right mentality I am asking from the players. It was for Noni, and it was for Christo Nkunku who played five minutes. Joao Felix was the same. If we want to build something, first of all you need the right mentality, and from all of them it was very good."
Glasner has urged his players to stay positive after they performed well enough against West Ham, but lacked a cutting edge in front of goal and conceded two that could have been easily avoided in his eyes.
"It's disappointing because it's the second defeat, but it's the second time that we were at least on the same level as the opposite team," the Austrian told Palace TV.
"At the moment we don't score from our chances, and we conceded goals which were maybe too easy. It was two transitions where we had enough players to avoid it, but we didn't. That's the disappointing part.
"I think we played okay. It's maybe not the top level, but it's okay, we created chances, we created situations. We have to stay positive, we have to stay together, especially when the time is not so sunny - it's raining a little bit more - then you have to stay together and work hard on it."
Head-to-Head (Last Five Premier League Meetings)
Matches - 5
Chelsea wins - 5
Palace wins - 0
Draws - 0
Premier League Matchday 3 fixtures:
Saturday, August 31
13h30: Arsenal v Brighton & Hove Albion
16h00: Brentford v Southampton
16h00: Everton v Bournemouth
16h00: Ipswich Town v Fulham
16h00: Leicester City v Aston Villa
16h00: Nottingham Forest v Wolverhampton Wanderers
18h30: West Ham United v Manchester City
Sunday, September 1
14h30: Chelsea v Crystal Palace
14h30: Newcastle United v Tottenham Hotspur
17h00: Manchester United v Liverpool
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