Chelsea welcome Newcastle United to Stamford Bridge in Monday Night Football from the Premier League.
At least one point will send Chelsea fourth whereas Newcastle can move up into 15th with victory.
Team News
Andreas Christiansen is a doubt for Chelsea after being substituted during Thursday’s FA Cup win at Barnsley with a headache.
Timo Werner (leg) and Kai Havertz (knock) could also feature but Thiago Silva (muscle) is still ruled out.
Newcastle could welcome Federico Fernandez and Jamaal Lascelles back from hamstring injuries which has kept the defensive duo out in recent weeks.
Ciaran Clark is also in contention after missing their 3-2 league victory over Southampton last weekend for personal reasons.
Callum Wilson (hamstring), Javi Manquillo (ankle), Fabian Schar (knee) and Jeff Hendrick (suspension) are sidelined.
Stat Attack
- Chelsea have lost just two of their last six league meetings against Newcastle (W4, L2).
- Newcastle are winless in their last seven league trips to Stamford Bridge (L7), only scoring three goals and conceded 18 goals across those visits.
- Only one of Chelsea’s last six home league goals in this fixture has come from a defender, Marcos Alonso scoring a 73rd minute winner in October 2019.
- 25 of Karl Darlow’s 37 punches in 42 Premier League games for Newcastle has come in this season alone.
- No Chelsea players has picked up more yellow cards this season in the Premier League than the six bookings collected by N’Golo Kante.
Prediction
Having escaped two trips to Yorkshire with narrow wins in the past week, Chelsea will be happy to be at home but I haven’t exactly been impressed by their performances under Tuchel because their defending has often been sloppy at times and have relied on clinical moments to pull wins together.
Newcastle meanwhile have shown considerable improvement in form since their formation change and their attack looked hungry against Southampton last weekend in the first half, before having to defend for much of the second half with ten men as Karl Darlow continues to be excellent in goal.
Losing Wilson and Hendrick though will be huge losses in term of attacking options whilst Manquillo and Schar likewise in defence, so I really can’t see them getting a win here given their away record in this fixture but Darlow will definitely be tough for Chelsea to handle in front of goal.
Prediction: Chelsea 2-0 Newcastle
Result: Chelsea 2-0 Newcastle
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