Chelsea vs Crystal Palace is live on Sky Sports on Sunday from 3.30pm
Sunday 4 November 2018 14:59, UK
Chelsea head coach Maurizio Sarri expects Eden Hazard to be fit to play some part in his side's Renault Super Sunday clash with Crystal Palace.
Hazard has been battling a back injury which he sustained in Chelsea's 2-2 draw against Manchester United, missing his side's last three fixtures.
He did train with the full Chelsea squad on Thursday but Sarri is still unsure over his potential involvement in the game against Palace, which is live on Sky Sports.
"Yesterday Eden had a large part of training with the team," Sarri said on Friday. "Maybe he will not be ready to play for 90 minutes at the moment, because it was his first training in the last two weeks. But probably he will be able to play for 40, 45 minutes. So for us it's important."
When pressed on whether he will play from the start, he added: "I don't know, I want to speak with him first."
Crystal Palace are without a win from their last five games in all competitions but last time out in the league they picked up a point with a battling 2-2 draw against Arsenal.
It was a performance manager Roy Hodgson believed deserved three points and he feels his side have been unlucky in many games so far this season.
"Confidence demands a lot of courage," Hodgson told Sky Sports News. "You have to have the courage to play football. I think we have done that this year. We have not maybe got as much to show for it as we would have liked but I think the courage to play and the desire to play has always been there and as a result has bred a certain amount of confidence."
Ross Barkley is set to return for Chelsea having been rested for the Carabao Cup victory over Derby in midweek.
Wilfried Zaha was an absentee as Crystal Palace crashed out of the Crabao Cup at Middlesbrough in midweek but the forward is fit and expected to return having recovered from a shoulder problem.
However, Connor Wickham will miss the trip to Stamford Bridge due to a thigh strain. he joins Christian Benteke, Scott Dann and Joel Ward on the sidelines.
"Connor Wickham has picked up a new thigh strain, which stopped him from taking part on Wednesday evening," said Hodgson. "He will be out now for a further period of time, which is a shame and a disappointment because he had been training for a while with us on a regular basis. We were harbouring the notion that he may now be fit enough to take part, but that is not the case and he isn't.
"Christian Benteke is making good progress and continuing his programme of rehabilitation and Joel Ward is still recovering from his thigh strain."
I thought Palace did well against Arsenal, but Chelsea are in a different league. They'll be too good, too strong for Palace at the Bridge.
Chelsea are playing well - they're not the finished article but you can see smatterings of brilliance and the way Maurizio Sarri wants them to play. He's getting the best out of certain players.
I'm going for a Chelsea win, and for all three top teams to stay unbeaten still, which is unbelievable.
PAUL PREDICTS: 3-0 (7/1 with Sky Bet)
