EPL Odds: Chelsea Look to Extend Title Lead at Palace

Crystal Palace (+550) vs Chelsea (-175), Draw (+320)

Chelsea (13-1-2, 40 points) will cross the River Thames this Saturday, December 17, to face fellow Londoners Crystal Palace (4-3-9, 15 points) in the seventeenth fixture of the English Premier League.

Chelsea are currently at the top of the Premier League and well on their way to claiming the 2016-17 title. They have a six-point lead over second and third-place teams Liverpool and Arsenal, giving them at least a two-game buffer against the other title contenders.

It’s a tough week for the other top teams. Arsenal and Manchester City square off, benefiting Chelsea whatever the outcome. And Liverpool are in tough against an Everton side that managed to clinch a win against Arsenal last week.

Chelsea do not face the same kind of challenge this week. Palace have only managed to win one of their last ten games, while the Blues are currently on a ten-game win streak. Apart from a three-game blemish earlier in the season, Chelsea have an otherwise perfect record.

Palace have not been too fortunate this season. They’ve just recently broken free from a disastrous six-game losing streak and are in real danger of slipping into the relegation zone. They are currently three points away from relegation and only four points from the bottom of the table.

But Palace were unlucky not to come away with a draw in Wednesday’s game against Manchester United. The game was tied at 1-1 until Zlatan Ibrahimovic edged out a winner late in the 88th minute.

There is hope for Crystal Palace, especially in newcomer Christian Benteke, the former Liverpool striker who was signed this season for a sizable £27m. He leads the scoring for Palace with an impressive eight goals and has become the cornerstone of the Palace attack.

But it’s probably not enough to overcome the current Chelsea side. The Blues demonstrated their versatility last week when they were forced to play without an injured Eden Hazard. They showed that they are not dependent on any one player and cruised to a 1-0 victory over Sunderland.

Hazard will be back this weekend against Crystal Palace and Chelsea will be back to fielding their best starting lineup.

Pick: Chelsea (-175)

Photo credit: “Eden Hazard” by Aleksandr Osipov CC BY-SA 2.0 [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0], via Flickr.