Pundits and supercomputer disagree on Crystal Palace v Chelsea score prediction

Chelsea are finally back in Premier League action this weekend when they face London rivals Crystal Palace.

The Blues have made a rocky start to the season, costing Thomas Tuchel his job, but they are now bbeginna new era under Graham Potter.

Potter drew his first game in charge, in the Champions League, but he has not yet made his Premier League debut as Chelsea boss.

That will come on Saturday when the Blues make the short trip to Selhurst Park to take on Crystal Palace.

A win would be a huge boost for Chelsea as they look to close the gap on those above, and pundits believe they will get it.

The BBC’s Chris Sutton has predicted a 2-1 win for the Blues, while Paul Merson thinks the clash will end 2-0.

Merson wrote in his SportsKeeda column: “A match against Crystal Palace away from home is always difficult.

“I feel for Graham Potter - he’s had no one at the club for the past few weeks, and he now has very little time to make the team play the way he wants them to play. The games are going to come thick and fast, and then we’ll have the World Cup.

“Potter is a good manager and a good coach, but he took some time to build his team at Brighton. It might take him a while at Chelsea as well, but he’ll need to finish in the top four this season.

“They also have a massive double-header in the Champions League and might be out of the competition if they fail to beat AC Milan over two legs.

“Marc Cucurella will definitely play this game - Graham Potter knows him well, and there’s not a lot of work to be done there. He didn’t bring in Fofana and Koulibaly, however, and that’s a problem - how much does he rate them? This is a dodgy game, but I’m going to go with a Chelsea victory.”

Elsewhere, Mark Lawrenson is also backing Chelsea to come out on top, writing in his PaddyPower predictions: “Graham Potter won’t have had much time to mould this Chelsea team but they’ve got some really outstanding players.

“We know how Crystal Palace play but I feel they should have more points, they do miss a lot of chances.”

While the pundits believe a Chelsea win is most likely, the supercomputer disagrees.

Stats experts say Crystal Palace will win this one 1-0.

The metrics suggest Palace have a 58.6% chance of winning, compared to Chelsea’s 12.1% chance. The supercomputer predicts a draw probability of 29.3%.