Chelsea vs Newcastle United preview
In a regular football season, there are teams that compete for the title and some teams that fight not to get relegated. Between these are teams that can be attributed to the tag of ‘also-rans. ‘ Chelsea and Newcastle United are the perfect embodiments of this category.’
Despite spending over Є1 billion euros in the last three transfer windows, Chelsea have only gone backwards. And this season appears to be the worst of the lot, with the Blues struggling at tenth on the Premier League table. And the stats back it up, too. According to the Expected Goals (xG) metric, Chelsea should have scored 51.84 goals but, in reality, have only managed to find the back of the net 44 times, an underperformance of 7.84, the third-worst in the league after Everton and Brentford.
The team’s Achilles heel has been its lack of goals, with Nicolas Jackson massively struggling to fill the number nine void. Injuries have also been persistent, thus preventing manager Mauricio Pochetinno from fielding their strongest playing XI.
Newcastle United haven’t fared much better, having been just one place above and four points ahead of the Blues. The Magpies had high hopes after their impressive 2022-23 season, during which they managed to finish in the Champions League places.
In their last ten games, Eddie Howe’s men have lost five and drawn two. Before this woeful run, they were five points shy of the Champions League places but are now 15 points adrift, clearly showing their downfall.
Their losses have also come against teams that were out of form, such as Everton, Nottingham Forest, and Luton Town. Injuries have also played a role, but the key issue has been fatigue due to the additional burden of the Champions League.
So, both teams are in a situation where they can’t afford any losses if they are to salvage anything from the season.
Chelsea vs Newcastle United predicted lineups
Chelsea lineup
If there is one club across Europe that has suffered the most because of injuries, it is definitely Chelsea. And the situation has only improved marginally. For the Newcastle game, the team are without Carney Chukwuemeka, Benoit Badiashile, Ben Chilwell, Levi Colwill, Conor Gallagher, Wesley Fofana, Reece James, Romeo Lavia, Christopher Nkunku, Lesley Ugochukwu.
In the last five games, Chelsea have only won one game and lost two, one of which came at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Chelsea predicted lineup: Petrovic; Gusto, Disasi, Chalobah, Cucurella; Caicedo, Fernandez; Sterling, Palmer, Mudryk; Jackson
Read More: Liverpool vs Manchester City: A stats analysis of a thriller game
Newcastle United lineup
Newcastle United’s biggest miss for the game will be captain and right-back Kieran Trippier. In his absence, Tino Livramento will be promoted to the right-back spot. Other players that will remain unavailable for the clash are Joelinton, Nick Pope, and Callum Wilson. On top of that, Sandro Tonali is also serving his ten-month suspension.
However, despite this, Newcastle can still field a starting XI that, on their day, can even be a handful for the best of teams due to gambling.
Newcastle United starting XI: Dubravka; Livramento, Schar, Botman, Burn; Willock, Guimaraes, Longstaff; Murphy, Isak, Gordon
Chelsea vs Newcastle United predictions
With just one-third of the season remaining, every team in the league knows it can’t afford any more slip-ups. Chelsea and Newcastle United are two teams that have already encountered many slip-ups, so a win will be crucial for them. Furthermore, with the revamped Champions League format that will come into effect from next season, the Premier League could have five places in the competition. This would allow more teams in the Europa League, which is what Chelsea and Newcastle United are aiming for.
Both teams have the talent on paper to compete with the best but have often failed to perform at their best. However, Chelsea have the home stadium advantage winning four of their five previous games and it could once again help them win three more points.
FootTheBall predicts a 2-1 win for Chelsea.
