Newcastle United vs Chelse

BPL 2018-19 – Newcastle United vs Chelsea Match Preview

Newcastle take on Chelsea at St James Park! A stadium that’s been a nightmare for Chelsea failing to win each of the past 5 meetings at Newcastle, losing 4. Newcastle have been one of the more unlucky sides this season while Chelsea have picked up two wins out of two. It’s a game that promises entertaining football and is definitely one to look forward to on Sunday.

Newcastle United

Well, Newcastle can count themselves very unlucky so far this season. Had their chances against Tottenham but lost 1-2 and then Kenedy blew a 96 minute penalty against Cardiff in a 0-0 draw. Newcastle did well enough performance wise to compete with Spurs and nearly snatching a win against Cardiff with 10 men but the results haven’t reflected that and now coming up against Chelsea, you have to say that Newcastle need points otherwise the pressure could start mounting with only 1 point. Newcastle have had unbelievable success over Chelsea playing at home, they have not lost to Chelsea here since 2011, that’s 5 matches in a row from which they won 4 and drew the other where they blew a 2-0 lead so really they should have won all 5 recent home matches against Chelsea. Most recently, Newcastle smashed Chelsea 3-0 at St James Park last season in the final fixture however a lot has changed since that and Chelsea seem like a completely difference side this time around.

Looking at team news. Isaac Hayden is suspended after being sent out last week, meanwhile Kenedy is not eligible to play due to Chelsea being his parent club and maybe after the disasterclass last week, this one game off may come in handy and he can regroup for next week. As far as replacements for Kenedy, Christian Atsu and Jacob Murphy are top candidates to slot in for him. Deandre Yedlin has is expected to be back from the lineup as he’s now fit enough to play after a knee injury and he should come in for Manquillo, unless Rafa doesn’t risk rushing him back in. Other than that, everybody else are healthy and the lineup is expected to stay pretty similar to last week. We can definitely expect Newcastle to have a go at Chelsea, there’s no reason why they shouldn’t. They have a great record against Chelsea at home and we’ve seen Chelsea’s back line be very shaky so far this season. If Newcastle set out with a positive mindset, they can definitely get something out of this.

Chelsea

2 Wins out of 2 so far for Sarri’s Chelsea. Now Chelsea go to the stadium that has haunted them in recent years. So far this season, we’ve seen a completely different Chelsea from last season. They look fluid going forward, very shaky at the back but so far the signs are promising. They took Huddersfield apart 0-3 and beat Arsenal in the London derby last week 3-2 in what was probably the most entertaining game this season in the BPL in general. It was truly a crazy game, Chelsea can definitely count themselves lucky as Arsenal missed 4 absolute sitters in the first half and could’ve been up 2-5/2-6. However, Chelsea did a fantastic job to re organise and take control back in the second half after blowing a 2-0 lead to win 3-2 thanks to Marcos Alonso winner in yet another London derby. Last season they would’ve more than likely crumbled and lost in that scenario so it clearly looks like an attacking manager being brought in has affected this team in a very positive way. Defensively, Chelsea have been very shaky though. David Luiz has been one of the biggest suspects in this Chelsea line-up and he simply just doesn’t look up to it and keeps making silly mistakes and we may soon see Christensen come in for him if he doesn’t sort it out. Eden Hazard has been unreal coming off the bench in both games and should be fit enough to start now, Kovacic made a fantastic debut coming off the bench too and of course Jorginho has been fantastic. To summarise, going forward Chelsea have looked great but defensively they will need to improve drastically.

Looking at team news and tactics now. Fabregas is still out for Chelsea, but otherwise everyone is fit. Eden Hazard as mentioned is now expected to start after two top class performances of the bench. Also, Matteo Kovacic could make his first start after putting in a game changing shift off the bench last week so if he’s fit enough he will very likely fit in for Ross Barkley. With Hazard back in the line-up, Sarri is going to have a huge dilemma whether he benches Pedro or Willian. Although Willian may be considered as the better player, it seems like Pedro is currently in the better form and in general he’s more adapted to this style of play. Pedro has scored in both games so far so if we were to make a guess then Willian will be dropped and Pedro will stay in given their form. Tactically, we’ll see Chelsea play a 4-3-3, high press football and playing out from the back. Maybe Kovacic potentially starting will help provide the backline more protection, but the back 4 themselves must be better, especially Luiz and Alonso and although the latter has contributed to goals, defensively he’s been awful. These two can’t continue to be exposed at the back, especially Luiz because Christensen will come for his starting spot.

What To Expect

Well, given how well Newcastle tend to play at home, and how good their record is against Chelsea here we can totally expect a very entertaining, competitive game. We can definitely expect goals from both sides. Chelsea’s back line is very suspect and Newcastle have all the tools to punish them here. With Hazard more than likely starting, we will probably see Chelsea be very dangerous as their attacking players are all in solid form. Midfield battle will be crucial here, whoever wins that will win the game. It’s really tough to predict the winner, sure on paper Chelsea are much better but this away record at Newcastle is really strange. Betting wise, we’d say over 2.5 goals and BTTS are both worthy picks. 8 of the past 10 meetings and in all 5 recent meetings between these sides ended in over 2.5 goals so it’s a fixture that doesn’t disappoint goals wise. We’ll give Newcastle the benefit of the doubt here and they’ll pick up a point against the in form Chelsea. 2-2 is our thinking.

Match Odds (TonyBet)

Newcastle Win – 5.25

Draw – 4.00

Chelsea Win – 1.70

KICK OFF – 26th August 2018 – 4pm UK Time