One of eight Premier League vs. EFL Championship ties in the first round of FA Cup fixtures takes place at Stamford Bridge this weekend as Chelsea take on Preston North End.
Chelsea currently sit 10th in the Premier League with eight wins, four draws and eight losses from twenty games this season.
Amidst a, once again, frustratingly mediocre league campaign the Blues will be hoping to salvage some pride by attempting to win the trophy they’ve had their name on eight times.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side are coming into this game in pretty good form on the whole having won four of their last five games in all competitions, the most recent of which was a 3-2 win away at Luton Town.
While results have been positive, performances have not been all that convincing and that was especially pertinent in the win over Luton where Chelsea, despite on the back foot for large parts of the game, found themselves 2-0 up at half-time through two moments of individual quality by Cole Palmer and Noni Madueke before another piece of brilliance by Palmer made it three early in the second half.
Luton then began to batter Chelsea, creating chance after chance through crosses into the box and very likely should have made it 3-3 having created an xG of 2.63 compared to Chelsea’s 0.99.
Regardless, the Blues got another win under their belt and it could be argued that there are positives to the fact they’re winning without playing particularly well, as if and when things start to come together under Pochettino they should begin to rally.
As far as this game is concerned, Chelsea should win this one relatively comfortably, even with a starting XI full of fringe players.
Preston North End currently sit 14th in the EFL Championship with ten wins, five draws and eleven losses from twenty-six games this season.
Having started the season excellently. Preston have tailed off notably in the Championship and are now coming into this game in pretty poor shape.
Their form has dropped off a cliff as they come into this game having lost four of their last five games, also having won just two of their last ten.
Their most recent game saw them fall to a deserved 2-0 loss away at Sunderland, a defeat that confirmed their second straight loss.
They’ve also only won just one of their last five games on the road so it feels like their chances here are minimal.
Preston have lost in the first round of this competition both of the last two years and it feels like that will be their fate once again here.
For our Chelsea vs. Preston prediction, we’re going for a 3-0 win for the home side.
Don’t forget to check out the rest of our previews, tips and offers for this weekend’s action.