Conor Gallagher's Chelsea problem will give Patrick Vieira chance to change Palace fortunes

So much of this season for Crystal Palace has been focused on it being a period of transition for the club.

A new manager, new players and a new identity and ethos that, the club hopes, will see them enter a new period of success following close to a decade of Premier League stability.

The blueprints were laid and the foundations were built last summer, though despite the general advancements on and off the pitch there has been a detached mood of late.

Palace have one league win in their last eight games and only five all season. They have been enjoyable to watch and their summer signings have all hit the ground running, though recent progress seems to have slowed down a touch.

At the start of the season wins against Spurs at home and Manchester City away buoyed some fans into thinking a top-half finish was close to guaranteed, though injuries to key players, a Covid-19 outbreak and the loss of senior players to the Africa Cup of Nations have all played their part in curbing some of that early optimism.

This Saturday they face newly-crowned Club World Cup champions Chelsea, the same side that blew them away 3-0 on the opening day of the season at Stamford Bridge.

It’ll be a good test to see how far Patrick Vieira has come since August. His starting XI that day featured Jairo Riedewald in midfield, Cheikhou Kouyate at centre-back and a two-man strikeforce of Wilfried Zaha and Jean-Philippe Mateta.

Palace will likely welcome Kouyate - fresh from winning AFCON with Senegal - back into the fold for the visit of Thomas Tuchel’s side but will miss loanee Conor Gallagher.

The 22-year-old is the Eagles' top scorer this season with seven goals but his absence could provide the perfect opportunity for Eberechi Eze to get