Chelsea vs. Crystal Palace: Hope or Despair for the Blues?

West London side Chelsea face South London club, Crystal Palace tonight in hopes of returning to winning ways and  avoid sinking further in the premier league standings.

So far, the Blues have emerged with just 6 wins from 18 games, lost 8 and drew 4, a total of 28 points lost since the start of the season.

From being a team of huge prospects following their opening weekend clash against Liverpool on match week 1, the current Chelsea form has branched out from what pundits and punters believed will be a surprise for premier league sides this season.

Though it can be argued that the West-London side were able to chalk out some impressive results against the likes of Manchester City (being the first side to net 4 goals past Pep Guardiola’s side lately), securing a 2-2 draw against Arsenal and beating then league leaders Tottenham Hotspur by a 4-1 score line, the narrative often ended with the generic words “One step forward, two steps backwards” to describe the team a week later.

Simply put, the Blues steal points off the top teams just to gamble them against the lesser opponents.

It isn’t as much as Chelsea putting up bad performances though, as that would be unfair to Mauricio Pochettino’s side who actually have dominated these games. However, it is getting over the line with that bit of luck against low block teams that have hampered their season.

Although there were exceptions; for instance the tie versus Newcastle United, where the West-London side produced a rather shambolic performance that was dictated by individual defensive errors to provoke a 4-1 humiliation at Saint James Park.

But games versus Everton, Nottingham Forest, West Ham United, AFC Bournemouth, Wolves, were classic examples of rough tidings or ill luck following the Blues.

It can even be argued that the defeat to Manchester United was something that shouldn’t have happened or Chelsea leading by 2 goals up against Arsenal, only to have the Gunners come back into the tie to steal a draw at the death was something that had to do with bad fortunes than it had to with their opponent being better than them.

And now, they face one of those teams in Crystal Palace who on paper shouldn’t be classed a real threat to Chelsea, but recent results puts this tie in doubt over what to expect.

Will Chelsea be facing a Crystal Palace that will be coming to Stamford Bridge to defend or an Eagles side ready to put the Blues under choke hold and force yet another defensive mishap from the Chelsea back line?

For Chelsea boss, Mauricio Pochettino however, this game is one where any result other than 3 points will get fans singing the all familiar song that comes before the punchline for their previous managers. This is a project to build, and by the looks of it, the project isn’t moving forward.