Chelsea vs Crystal Palace: Pedro should make the difference, but the Chelsea defence is a worry

FANS' VIEW: Supporters of the sides involved at Stamford Bridge this weekend offer their thoughts

Staff
Friday 28 August 2015 12:22 EDT
Comments
Pedro celebrates scoring (Getty)
Pedro celebrates scoring (Getty) (Getty)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Ahead of the Premier League meeting between Chelsea and Crystal Palace at Stamford Bridge this weekend, we caught up with a couple of fans for their take on the match...

Chelsea fan Kavan Flavius

The result against West Brom last weekend was just what was needed and the team showed great character to come away with all three points. The result should kick start our season but Crystal Palace are dangerous opposition. Pedro was a breath of fresh air last week and had a debut to remember and the home fans will certainly enjoy watching him this weekend.

Kurt Zouma should keep his place in the side, with John Terry suspended, and I think he could be joined by new signing in Baba Rahman in the starting line-up, with Branislav Ivanovic’s form less than impressive so far.

We will be expected to kick on from the result against West Brom last weekend, but we are still a long way off the team that raced out of the gates last season. Defensively we haven’t been as strong and the number of goals we have conceded so far worries me.

Despite that though, the comfort of being at home, added to the offensive spark which Pedro provides, should be enough to give us a much needed 2-1 victory.

Crystal Palace fan Mark Jones

Saturday's trip to Stamford Bridge is a brilliant chance for us to scalp some points from one of the best teams in the league and show how far we have come under Alan Pardew.

Our flying wingers, namely Bolaise, Zaha and Puncheon and the added qualities players like Cabaye bring to the team could make the difference on Saturday afternoon, especially with Terry suspended and unable to dominate the penalty area as he usually does. We have the pace to worry them and I think this will be a deciding factor on Saturday.

That said, our defence will have a busy afternoon as well trying to keep the likes of Pedro and Eden Hazard quiet. We haven’t kept a clean sheet yet and Pardew may well adopt the "we'll just score one more than you" approach instead, which could be pretty entertaining for the fans!

Prediction: 2-2

90min is the leading football fan platform. For more fan views, to join the conversation or to cast your vote via FanVoice visit www.90min.com

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in