Alan Pardew’s side have earned a reputation as one of the best away teams in the Premier League, winning five and drawing two of their 10 games on the road so far.
Though the Blues have beaten Palace twice already this campaign, Sterling believes keeping flying wingers Wilfried Zaha and Yannick Bolasie - if fit- quiet could be the key to winning this Saturday’s meeting.
“They’ve got players who are allowed to express themselves and two wingers who like to get at the opposition full-backs at any point in the game to create something out of nothing,” said Sterling.
“They have a lot of confidence and try and get the full-backs on the back foot from the first minute. It’s good to see that they’re both scoring some important goals for their club but hopefully that’s something they won’t do against us – after that, I hope they keep having the type of season they’ve had so far.
“They play with freedom and you can never really tell what they’re going to do as a team because on their day they’re good enough to beat most teams in the Premier League.”
Sterling also highlighted Palace’s team ethic as one of the reasons the South London outfit are flying high this season, though Pardew’s side are having something of a blip at present with no goals scored in their last four Premier League games.
“As a team, I think they work really hard for each other as well and they seem to do exactly what the manager asks of them,” he said.
“They’ve gone a few league games without a goal, but we’ll be treating them with the respect they deserve, though this is a game we need into with all guns blazing and try and win the match early on.
“We know if we play anywhere near our best, this is a game we can win.”
