Prediction: Newcastle United vs Chelsea

27th November 2010

Both sides are still feeling the hangover from last week’s defeats, so this game will be a perfect opportunity for one of the teams to return to winning ways. With their title rivals slowly catching up, Chelsea desperately need a victory at St James Park, but the Magpies won’t have a lot of understanding for their opponents’ woes.

Newcastle United returned where they belong after just one season in the Championship and they quickly showed everyone that they are here to stay. The impressive results in the opening rounds included the 6:0 victory over Aston Villa, away wins over Everton and Arsenal, as well as the 5:1 defeat of fierce rivals Sunderland. Nonetheless, the Magpies were unable to keep the rich vein of form for a long period of time and they have started to slip down the Premiership standings after picking up just one point from last three games. The 5:1 defeat to Bolton last weekend showed the players are really low on confidence at the moment, while numerous selection problems only make matters worse. Boss Chris Hughton is without Mike Williamson, Joey Barton and Fabricio Coloccini, who are all suspended, while Hatem Ben Arfa, Ryan Taylor, Leon Best, Steve Harper and Dan Gosling remain on the sidelines. Cheikh Tiote returns from suspension, but Shola Ameobi is doubtful with a hamstring problem.

Chelsea, too, are in major crisis at the moment with the latest run of results threatening to hurt their title bid, but the Blues are still topping the table and could return to the right track with three points from St James Park. Following the embarrassing home defeat to Sunderland, the Blues showed real character and played a very good game away to Birmingham but were extremely unlucky not to turn their domination into victory. Everybody at the club were, nevertheless, pleased with team’s performance at St Andrew’s and that will give the Blues something to build on before this very important clash. Several first team regulars have been rested in the Champions League victory over Zilina, so Ancelotti is now set to field the strongest possible side. John Terry, Frank Lampard and Yossi Benayoun remain on the sidelines, while Michael Essien is suspended, but the good news is Alex is fit to play.

Conclusion

Newcastle’s form is clearly on the downtrend after the good start of the season and with the Magpies missing so many first team regulars, they are unlikely to cause Chelsea big problems. The Blues are slowly returning to form and the victory at St James will get them back on the right track.

Verdict: Away win Chelsea (2)

Best Odds: 7/10

Bookmaker: Paddy Power