The Blues have won four and lost only one of our eight local derbies over the league campaign so far.

Six points and seven positions separate sixth-placed Chelsea and Palace in 13th.

This is the Blues’ 35th match of the season across all competitions and the Eagles’ 36th.

The south Londoners have failed to land all three points in any of their last six matches on home soil and their seven-game winless streak home and away is the longest after Burnley’s 13.

Their February schedule will be complicated by UEFA Conference League play-off games against Zrinjski Mostar, but Oliver Glasner’s side have had a clear midweek going into this game.

Meanwhile, a UEFA Champions League victory over Pafos laid down Chelsea’s claim on a top-eight finish and round of 16 place, ahead of Wednesday’s decisive trip to Napoli.

And the world champions could return to the top four of the Premier League with a win on Sunday.

Chelsea 2025/26 goal contributions all competitions

Team news

In his pre-match press conference, Liam Rosenior provided a positive update on Enzo Fernandez, Jamie Gittens, Cole Palmer and Estevao Willian ahead of Sunday’s trip to Crystal Palace.

‘In terms of sickness, the players hit by that are gradually coming back to full health,’ Rosenior explained. ‘We’ve had to be very careful with that because Estevao was very ill, Jamie was very ill, and it altered our plans over the week in terms of what we wanted to do. Thankfully the lads have come through that, and so has Enzo as well.

‘Cole is in a good place. He joined in training on Friday, which is really positive, and we will assess his reaction to training after the session.'

However, Filip Jorgensen, Dario Essugo and Romeo Lavia are all unavailable for selection this weekend.

‘Jorgensen has had his scan, and it was actually quite positive and not as bad as we first feared,' continued Rosenior. 'He won’t be available for Palace this weekend, but he could potentially be okay for Napoli.

‘Dario has picked up a really unfortunate injury. He slipped in training and he’s going to be out for a while. We expect him to be out for over a month, which is a real shame because he’s an outstanding player.

‘Romeo is on the way back, which is great because he’s a very good, outstanding player at a very high level. I want him back as quickly as possible, of course, but I want him back with no more injuries. We don’t want to force him, we want him back where he can get into a flow of repetitive game time.’

The history

Both clubs were founded for the 1905/06 season but, while the Blues gambled that the Football League would soon prevail, Crystal Palace plumped for the Southern League, where they remained for 15 years.

Our first meeting in south London was a bizarre one, in November of that debut campaign in the FA Cup. The Pensioners were forced to field two entirely different teams in simultaneous matches on the same day. Prioritising promotion, player-manager Jacky Robertson picked his first team for a 1-0 Division Two win at home to Burnley, and deployed a scratch side in the cup, losing 7-1 at the Glaziers’ then Sydenham home.

By the time the pair first met in the league in 1925, Palace had relocated to Selhurst Park, and they earned both points with a winner in the last few minutes. However, it was 44 years before the fixture returned, as Palace were relegated weeks later.

The return at Christmas 1969 was a personal triumph for Blues striker Peter Osgood, who put four goals past keeper John Jackson in a 5-1 club-record rout. Since then, the Eagles have won four matches as league hosts, while the visiting Blues have racked up 15 victories.

In fact, until last season’s two top-flight draws, Chelsea had claimed 13 consecutive victories over Palace home and away. Up to then the west-south derby had not finished level since 1995, yet the current season opened with the third in a row – a 0-0 stalemate at Stamford Bridge.

Know this...

Chelsea’s current unbeaten league run against Crystal Palace stands at 16 games, our longest against any of the 19 other sides in the 2025/26 top flight.

Cole Palmer has assisted three of Chelsea’s past four goals against Palace and scored the other.

Other than Jean-Philippe Mateta, the only Eagles players to have scored for them at Selhurst Park in the league this season are Ismaila Sarr in their first home game and Eddie Nketiah in the third.

The world champions are the Premier League’s highest-scoring travellers with 19 away goals. Only three clubs have conceded fewer goals on the road than the Blues’ 13.

Four of the 12 goals (33.3 per cent) by visitors to Selhurst Park have been scored in the final quarter-hour.

Both sides have drawn seven Premier League games this season – only four rival clubs have recorded more.

This is the third of four straight capital league clashes for Chelsea. Since 2022/23, the Blues have claimed 73 points from London derbies, more than anyone except Arsenal (97). In that time, West Ham United (38) are the only side to have picked up fewer than Crystal Palace (45).

Premier League London derby table 2025/26