Crystal Palace vs. Chelsea Predictions: Back the Blues to win this London derby

Eight Premier League games take place on Saturday in the Premier League, with West Ham v Newcastle on BT Sport and Man City v Spurs on Sky Sports being the two televised games. Here at BettingOdds.com we will have match previews for all the top-flight matches with betting predictions. We have tasked @OddsTerrier to look at the 3pm London derby at Selhurst Park between Crystal Palace and Chelsea and he's picked out a couple of betting angles for your perusal. 

Chelsea return to Premier League action after their spell in the UAE playing in the FIFA Club World Cup - a competition they won for the first time, beating Palmeiras of Brazil in the final. They have not played in the Premier League since the 23rd January and will be desperate to pull back some ground on Man City and Liverpool. Their form, pre Club World Cup break, was sketchy at best; winning two, drawing three and losing one in their last six. 

Palace are also in a patchy run of form, winless in five games with just three points from their last 15 and are ominously heading towards the ongoing relegation battle. They sit just nine points and five places above Norwich in 18th and will need to arrest this slump sooner rather than later to avoid being dragged into a late scrap for survival.

Team news: 

Crystal Palace are missing Conor Gallagher who is banned from facing his parent club. They are also without long term injured defender Nathan Ferguson.

Chelsea are again without Ben Chilwell and Reece James who have season long injuries. Mason Mount joins them on the injury list after an ankle knock in the Club World Cup final. Ruben Loftus-Cheek will be a late decision for Thomas Tuchel as to whether he makes the squad. 

First up we've taken the boosted price on Chelsea to win both halves at bet365. The price is as low as 3/1 at some bookmakers whilst bet365 have boosted it all the way out to 5/1. Chelsea have won their last eight games against Palace in all competitions and have scored at least three goals in their last four head to heads versus the Eagles. This bet landed the last time these two played and I fancy it to do again here. The Blues should be full of confidence after their recent exploits in the UAE and I expect them to start this one early. 

Next up we've got a player prop based around Crystal Palace right back Joel Ward. He's a regular selection on these pages and rightly so. Ward has only committed 16 fouls from his 23 appearances but those have led to six yellow cards, so when he does foul in a tackle, it's usually a bad/cynical one. Ward will be up against the marauding left wing back Marcos Alonso here so could be put in some extremely dangerous positions. William Hill are top price on Ward to be shown a card at 9/2. With David Coote refereeing this one, who ranks 4th in the EPL for yellow cards per game, we are happy to take a chance on this one.

If you like any of these bets then good luck and gamble responsibly.