It's an early booking for Chelsea's Marcos Alonso for throwing the ball away. Cheap booking for the Spaniard.

Palace have all 11 men inside their own half, within a rigid 4-4-2, but they spring clear when they win possession through the pace of Andros Townsend and Wilfried Zaha.

Jorginho is at the centre of everything Chelsea are trying so far this afternoon.

The Italian constantly keeps the ball moving although they are yet to show much cutting edge in attack.

Image source, Reuters

Chris Sutton
Ex-Premier League striker on BBC Radio 5 live

Olivier Giroud's role as a central targetman means Eden Hazard can take up his favourite position, drifiting in from the left-hand side.

I think that Giroud is Hazard's favourite player to work alongside in attack.

Chelsea are dominating possession in the early stages and David Luiz lofts the ball over the Palace defence to an onrushing Marcos Alonso.

The move comes to nothing as the full-back loses the ball but it's a good start by the visitors.

Image source, Reuters

Chelsea have made a bright start as they keep possession well in the Palace half. Eden Hazard has started out on the left of midfield.

And we are under way at Selhurst Park...

The stadium is currently observing a minute's silence for supporters and everyone connected to both clubs who have died in 2018.

Nice touch.

Image source, Reuters

Jack: I feel for Morata, if tactics were what they were 10 years ago, he'd be playing little-and-large with Giroud, they'd be the modern day Crouch-Defoe combo

Zak: We "Chelsea" are not here to keep up the pressure. We either win the thing or finish in one of the Champions League places.

Image source, Reuters

Both sets of players and the match officials, accompanied by 22 excited young mascots, have made their way out onto the pitch.

Here we go - we're all set for the final day of Premier League action in 2018.

Here's a quick reminder of how the top of the Premier League table looks.

A Chelsea win today will see them move to within a point of Man City in third, and two points behind London rivals Tottenham in second.

Crucially, it will also open up a five point gap between them and fifth-placed Arsenal.

All to play for then at Selhurst Park.

The players have returned to their changing rooms for one final pep talk before the real action begins.

We are just 10 minutes from kick off now...

We are just 15 minutes from kick off at Selhurst Park, so what are YOUR score predictions?

Can Chelsea keep up the pressure on the leading pack?

Will Palace follow up their surprise victory over Man City before Christmas with another three points against one of the top four clubs?

You can have you say by Tweeting with #bbcfootball or by Text to 81111 (UK only).

Image source, Getty

According to Sky Sports,, external Bayern Munich have made a bid of more than £20m for Chelsea attacker Callum Hudson-Odoi after having an opening offer of £13.5m knocked back.

The German giants, currently lagging six points behind Borussia Dortmund in the the Bundesliga title race, have apparently convinced the 18-year-old that he will get more game time in Germany.

I imagine the words 'Jadon' and 'Sancho' were mentioned a couple of times in Bayern's pitch to Hudson-Odoi.

These two clubs last met in November when Chelsea ran out 3-1 winners at Stamford Bridge.

A brace from Alvaro Morata and a goal for Pedro saw Chelsea claim all three points, while Andros Townsend claimed a consolation for the visitors.

Morata starts on the bench today and Pedro misses out through an injury, so can the Eagles gain revenge?

Image source, Reuters

Mark Lawrenson
Ex-Liverpool defender

Chelsea had an off-day against Leicester last weekend, but that does not happen very often under Maurizio Sarri.

Prediction: 0-2

Lawro's full predictions v Wolf Alice bassist Theo Ellis

Both sets of players have just made their way onto the pitch for their pre-match warm-up routines.

Chelsea will be wearing their yellow away strip today, while the hosts will be playing in their traditional red and blue stripes.

Image source, EPA

Image source, Reuters

According to the Daily Telegraph's Matt Law, Chelsea's Ruben Loftus-Cheek is still nursing an injury, hence him missing the chance to face the team he spent last season on loan with.

There must have been a change in his condition from yesterday when Maurizio Sarri said he was fit and available., external

Danny Murphy
Former Liverpool and England midfielder on Match of the Day

I think the Liverpool players are playing with a confidence and a swagger we haven’t seen in a long time. They really feel now they can win it.

They deserve great credit because the amount of games they have played in recent weeks, to play with that level of intensity takes great desire from those players, who have now got that real belief.

After Tottenham's surprise defeat to Wolves earlier in the day, Liverpool extended their lead at the top of the table to nine points with a 5-1 thrashing of Arsenal in the evening kick-off on Saturday.

All eyes are on St Mary's this afternoon as defending champions Man City try to cut the deficit at the top when they face Southampton.

Pep Guardiola's men are currently in third, 10 points behind the league leaders, and one point behind Spurs in second.

Victory for City will see them leapfrog Spurs in the table and cut the gap to seven points, before they entertain Liverpool at the Etihad in a mouth-watering match on Thursday, 3 January.

Image source, Getty Images