An early corner for Chelsea and Reece James floats it in from the right, but Trevoh Chalobah commits a foul at the near post and it comes to nothing.

Image source, Getty Images

Nizaar Kinsella
BBC Sport Chelsea reporter

Crystal Palace head coach Oliver Glasner was given a round of applause when walking out onto Selhurst Park.

It's the first home match since he announced he was leaving the club amid new tension over the club's lack of ambition in the transfer market and the sale of defender Marc Guehi to Manchester City.

Interestingly, Glasner was the last member of coaching staff to come out and walked out alone.

There were more muted cheers for star striker Jean-Philippe Mateta, who is playing today, but is subject to a lot of transfer speculation about leaving the club in January.

Away we go at Brentford, Crystal Palace and Newcastle for our three early games.

Image source, Getty Images

Matt Jones
BBC Sport journalist

Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa are the main striker options, but both have found life difficult domestically.

Since Wissa made his debut after recovering full fitness, Newcastle have lacked a consistent focal point up front. He has managed just one goal in the top flight so far, while Woltemade has scored in only one of his past 14 games – a brace in the 2-2 draw with Chelsea.

Wissa was impressive on his Champions League debut in midweek, grabbing a goal and an assist in the win over PSV, and could earn another start this weekend as a result.

Could Eddie Howe potentially pair the duo in an attempt to spark them both into life? At this stage, it appears unlikely. Remarkably, of the 268 minutes Wissa has played in the Premier League for Newcastle so far, Woltemade has been on the pitch for none of them.

Julien Laurens
ESPN journalist on BBC Radio 5 Live

Image source, Reuters

I don't want to be too mean but this feels to me a little bit late for Jadon Sancho in the sense that this hasn't really worked. One goal in 19 games in all competitions for him.

I know it was a loan so you don't really take much risk and Aston Villa in their financial position could not do much more than that.

He's not a bad player because technically he's so above average, even for a Premier League player, but there's still not enough end product. And I don't know if the attitude is right for what you need to do today at a place like St James' Park. It's not about step overs and dribbling skills.

It's about fighting spirit here.

Having struck out on his own as the top Brazilian scorer in any Premier League season with 16, frontman Igor Thiago now has another target in his sights. The last South American player to break the 20-goal barrier in a campaign was Manchester City's Sergio Aguero, who netted 21 in 2018-19.

Dyche despairs at defeat

Nottingham Forest head coach Sean Dyche and his players faced the wrath of their travelling support as a much-changed team slumped to a 1-0 Europa League defeat against Sporting Braga on Thursday.

Dyche put the defeat down to "one minute of madness", with Morgan Gibbs-White's penalty miss compounded by an own goal from Ryan Yates a mere 55 seconds later.

Despite his spot-kick woe on the continent, Gibbs-White's league tally of five makes him the Reds' top scorer, and, encouragingly, he has bagged a goal in each of their last two league away games.

Forest missing Wood

In the absence of last season's top scorer Chris Wood, Forest's failure to find the net is eye-catchingly pronounced – undoubtedly one of the main reasons they find themselves in 17th place, just five points clear of the drop zone.

Only rock-bottom Wolves (15) have scored fewer goals in the league than Forest's 21, and nobody has failed to find the net in more games than the 11 blanks registered by Dyche's men.

Image source, BBC Sport

One thing the visitors can cling to is Dyche's impressive record against the Bees. The former Burnley and Everton boss has won four of his six Premier League meetings with Brentford, his highest win rate (67%) against any side he's faced more than twice.

Ciaran Kelly
BBC Sport reporter at St James' Park

Image source, Getty Images

It is an intriguing battle in the middle of the park today as Newcastle United and Aston Villa meet without some key players in the engine room.

Newcastle captain Bruno Guimaraes misses out with an ankle issue while Boubacar Kamara and John McGinn are also sidelined with injuries for Aston Villa.

Their influence is undoubted.

Newcastle have never won a Premier League game without Guimaraes in the starting line-up since he made his full debut nearly four years ago.

McGinn is Aston Villa's standard bearer, as skipper, but it says it all that this side have only lost two top-flight fixtures this season when Kamara has started.

That's how integral the Frenchman is.

Nizaar Kinsella
BBC Sport Chelsea reporter

Crystal Palace are playing their first home game since Oliver Glasner announced that he would leave at the end of the season.

It came in the aftermath of Marc Guehi agreeing a move to Manchester City and was proceeded and followed by the Austrian head coach criticising the club.

There are also substantial transfer rumours circling around Jean-Philippe Mateta.

Chris Sutton
Premier League winner with Blackburn

It's the teams beginning with B that I am struggling most with this season - I don't seem able to predict what Brentford, Brighton or Bournemouth will do. I am not confident about getting Brentford right this time either.

On paper, this seems pretty straightforward because they are so strong at home and Igor Thiago is in brilliant form, but I can see Nottingham Forest making it difficult for them because of the way they play.

From what I've seen of Brentford this season, their gameplan is to keep it tight and look to counter quickly but Forest will do exactly the same.

With Sean Dyche's side being so deep, they won't leave any space behind and they will also be looking to score on the break.

Sutton's prediction: 2-1

Mark Schwarzer
Former Chelsea and Fulham goalkeeper on 5 Live

I can't imagine many people not being frustrated with the situation at Crystal Palace if you were a manager of a club losing a player like Marc Guehi like he did.

He said it himself it's all about timing and the timing is woeful really you think about he almost went in the summer on the final day of the transfer window and that fell down.

You think well Palace have normally been really, really good strategically player recruitment player coming and goings for some reason this one did not seem right and I think there is a enormous amount of frustration in the why is unfolded.

Image source, Getty Images

Matt Jones
BBC Sport journalist

Newcastle United and Aston Villa will both be looking to bounce back after disappointing Premier League results last weekend when they meet at St James' Park.

Newcastle were unable to find a breakthrough against bottom club Wolverhampton Wanderers in a 0-0 draw, continuing their woes on the road this season. On home soil, they have been much more effective and will be boosted by a 3-0 win over PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League in midweek.

Qualification for the Europa League knockout stage was the positive from a rough week for Aston Villa. Their 11-game home winning run was ended by Everton last weekend, and they then received the brutal news that key midfielder Boubacar Kamara is set to miss the rest of the season through injury.

Guimaraes a huge miss

Although Newcastle have been strong at home this season, much of their attacking output lately has come from midfield and wide areas.

Bruno Guimaraes is not playing because of an ankle injury and he is their leading league scorer with eight goals and a huge miss. Newcastle have never won a top-flight match he has missed.

Image source, BBC Sport

Image source, Getty Images

Emiliano Martinez is making his 200th Premier League appearance for Aston Villa this afternoon.

The Argentina international, 33, remains a key player for Villa and will be looking for a fifth clean sheet of the season, once play gets under way at St James' Park.

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Matthew Hobbs
BBC Sport

Kings of the capital

Chelsea are playing their first Premier League away game under Liam Rosenior, who has won three of his opening four matches in all competitions – most recently a narrow win against Champions League minnows Pafos on Wednesday which kept hopes alive of automatic qualification to the knockout stages.

Attention now turns to domestic matters and a local rivalry in London. Chelsea have already beaten West Ham United, Fulham, Tottenham and Brentford this season to continue a strong record in derbies in recent seasons.

Image source, BBC Sport

Since the start of the 2022-23 season, only Arsenal (97) have won more points in London derbies than Chelsea's 73, while only West Ham (38) have picked up fewer than Crystal Palace's 45 during this period.

Joao Pedro and Cole Palmer both netted in Rosenior's first Premier League game in charge in a derby against Brentford last weekend and the duo will be attempting to emulate the four Blues players who have scored in a manager's opening two fixtures in charge.

They are Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink under Claudio Ranieri, Deco under Luiz Felipe Scolari, Diego Costa under Antonio Conte and Pedro under Maurizio Sarri.

Chris Sutton
Premier League winner with Blackburn

The wheels seem to be coming off in a big way at Palace. Marc Guehi has joined Manchester City, Oliver Glasner has hit out at the club's owners after announcing he will leave and now Jean-Philippe Mateta wants away.

It feels as if Glasner does not want to be there and although he seems to have been forgiven for his outburst about the club's hierarchy after defeat at Sunderland last weekend, I just don't think he is going to be around much longer.

Things are far from rosy for Chelsea at the moment either, and I feel a bit sorry for their manager Liam Rosenior. He is getting a kicking in certain places for some of his techniques and because he has come from Strasbourg, and I think that is unfair.

He's an innovative young manager who has done well for himself, and is hungry and ambitious. If he was a young continental coach, we would be saying this guy is marvellous. Let's give him a chance.

I don't see everything going smoothly for Rosenior this season, but Chelsea got over the line in the Champions League in midweek and I think they will do the same at Selhurst Park.

I just don't know where Palace go from here, and it is really sad.

Maybe the end will come quickly for Glasner, but he cannot continue to show his frustration publicly every week or two, because that is not going to move the club forward.

Sutton's prediction: 0-1

Chelsea chief Liam Rosenior insisted Cole Palmer is “very happy” with the Blues despite reports the England star is homesick.

Palmer moved to Stamford Bridge in 2023 from Manchester City where he had progressed from the academy to the first team but struggled for minutes under Pep Guardiola.

But this has been the most difficult period of the 23-year-old’s career as injury and poor form have seen his goals and assists reduced.

“I’ve had numerous conversations with Cole and he seems very happy to be here, he is very happy to be here,” said Rosenior.

“He’s a huge part of our plans in the long term. He’s an outstanding player. Every player goes through difficult moments in their career in terms of injury. It’s not any reflection of his quality.”

Nizaar Kinsella
BBC Sport Chelsea reporter

Cole Palmer was not included in the Chelsea squad for Sunday afternoon’s match at Crystal Palace.

The 23‑year‑old trained over the past two days, but the fixture is thought to have come just a day too soon for him to recover fully from a thigh injury.

Chelsea remain confident he will return in time for Wednesday’s Champions League trip to Napoli.

Image source, Reuters

Brentford's excellent home form has been pivotal in their charge towards a European place this season and they will fancy their chances on Sunday against a Nottingham Forest side with just one win in their last six league games.

The seventh-placed Bees have lost just once at the Gtech Community Stadium all season, with only the current top three of Arsenal (29), Manchester City (26) and Aston Villa (25) earning more home points than the 24 amassed by Keith Andrews' side.

Bees sting late on

With Forest coming off the back of a tiring and troublesome midweek defeat in the Europa League, Brentford will be poised to utilise one of their most effective weapons this campaign – the late goal.

The west Londoners have scored 13 goals from the 75th minute onwards in league fixtures this season – more than any other top-flight club. Conversely, nobody has conceded more than Forest's 12 during the same period of games.

Image source, BBC Sport

Chris Sutton
Premier League winner with Blackburn

Aston Villa's home defeat by Everton last week showed again how difficult it is to make predictions this season.

Villa had won their past 11 home games before then, and had been pretty dominant against Everton in the league in recent seasons too. I was extremely confident they would win to keep the pressure on Arsenal... and I was wrong!

Now? Well, Unai Emery's side have had a long trip to Turkey in the Europa League before this game and they have a few injuries to contend with too. John McGinn and Boubacar Kamara will be badly missed and I am slightly concerned about their options up front now Donyell Malen has left.

That's why I'm backing Newcastle here. They are so strong in midfield but they are especially good at home - I always fancy them to win at St James' Park.

Sutton's prediction: 2-1