Crystal Palace have a trio of attacking players who pose a major threat to Chelsea in Saturday’s Premier League encounter, according to manager Antonio Conte.
The Blues have lost four of their past five league matches and desperately need a victory against the Eagles at Stamford Bridge to keep pace with the top four.
Defeat against Manchester City last Sunday means fifth-placed Chelsea are now five points adrift of Tottenham in fourth, with just nine games to play.
Winger Wilfried Zaha could feature for Palace after making a rapid recovery from a knee ligament injury sustained just five weeks ago.
“When we lost away scored and he created a lot of problems, but it is not only Zaha,” Conte said at a press conference on Friday.
“Andros Townsend is a really good player. There is Benteke and there are many good players in this squad. To see them in this position in the table is strange.
“They lost the past couple of games, but they deserved more against Tottenham and Man Utd when they lost at the end.
“We must pay great attention and have a good performance. We are playing against a really good team with talented players, but for sure we need three points.”
Conte said the Palace game was vital to their hopes of securing Champions League football next season and there was no danger of thinking ahead to the second leg of their last-16 tie in the same competition against Barcelona on Wednesday.
“The most important thing is to go game by game and not look too far forward,” Conte added.
“For the players, the club, the players and fans it is important to try to win the game.
“Don’t forget we have a target in the league to try to take a place in the Champions League. After the game we will start to think about the Champions League.
“Our confidence, for sure when you lose many games in a row, it is not simple. But we have to regret the games against Bournemouth, Watford and United.
“When you play against City there is possibility to lose the game. But our confidence is normal. We are are working very well and tomorrow we will see the performance.”