Chelsea: Will they go unbeaten or lose this Saturday?

Jose Mourinho has never gone a whole league season unbeaten

Chelsea are only slightly shorter to lose at Crystal Palace than to avoid defeat all season; Michael Lintorn explores which is more likely...

Three reasons why Chelsea will go the season unbeaten @ 11.5n/a

Nobody has come closer before or after Arsenal
Besides Arsenal's feted 2003/04 Invincibles, just one side have lost one game or less over the course of a Premier League campaign: Jose Mourinho's first Chelsea vintage of 2004/05, who set a divisional points record of 95 in the process. The popular opinion circulating at present is that this Chelsea squad is better than the one a decade ago, so an unbeaten 2014/15 is the best way to prove it.

They have already lasted longer than 2004/05
In Chelsea's record-setting 2004/05 title breeze, their sole reverse occurred away to Man City on October 16. It will be October 18 when this group next step out against Crystal Palace. Not only were they never conquered again after that date, they dropped points in a mere six of their remaining 29 matches.

Mourinho is due one
Mourinho has achieved many remarkable things over the course of his career - seven league titles, two Champions League successes, nine years without a home league loss - but a season without a mark in the league table's L column has thus far eluded him. The Special One has come close often enough though, losing two fixtures or fewer in four separate league campaigns across three clubs.

Three reasons why Chelsea will lose away to Crystal Palace @ 9.08/1

This was Chelsea at their most vulnerable last term
Chelsea's impressive start loses some sparkle when you realise that they only took three points less than the 19 that they currently hold in the equivalent fixtures last season. So while they have fared reasonably on trips to Everton and Man City, it was this sort of away assignment - to less glamorous teams like Crystal Palace, Aston Villa and Stoke - which caused the most disappointment in 2013/14.

Warnock and Palace have been good together
After opening the season with successive defeats, Crystal Palace have only lost one of their six matches in 90 minutes since Neil Warnock returned to the club, earning impressive results such as a 3-3 draw at Newcastle and 3-2 triumph at Everton. The Eagles have lost just four of their 13 Premier League encounters at Selhurst Park in 2014, winning six of the most recent dozen.

All parties have been here before
Crystal Palace's last home game against Chelsea finished 1-0 the south Londoners, with a John Terry own goal separating the sides. The Blues skipper also dominated headlines the last time that a Warnock-managed team hosted them in the Premier League, with his QPR prevailing 1-0 in 2011 as Chelsea had two players sent off and Terry was accused of racially abusing Anton Ferdinand.