Newcastle v CHELSEA: Preview

Date: Sunday 11^th May 2025

Venue: St James’ Park

Kick-off: 12:00 BST

Today’s early game sees us travel to St James’ Park to face a Newcastle side sitting above us but level on points in the table.  

Villa won yesterday which also puts them level on points having played a game more, and Forest will undoubtedly beat Leicester, so no pressure, but it’s a ‘must not lose’ game, which is a pity since Eddie Howe has won seven of his 20 meetings with Chelsea in all competitions, with each win coming against a different manager. Chelsea meanwhile…..have Enzo Maresca….

Newcastle have lost only one of their last nine games in all competitions. They’ve won the last five at home, scoring for fun, they’ve also won seven of the previous 11 against us in the Premier League, so the odds are firmly stacked in their favour.

For us, the fight back against Fulham was as welcome as it was unexpected and it looks like it sparked us back into some sort of life. Whether Liverpool made changes or not, they had enough on the pitch to take us on, so the win against them was a bonus I didn’t see coming.

The problem is, that put us right back in the mix for a Champions League place when I’d already accepted finishing around 7^th but it only takes a defeat to take it out of our hands again.

It’s the hope that kills you!

MANAGER’S VIEWS

Going into today’s game, Newcastle manager Eddie Howe, says “I think our home form has been good throughout the season. We have a great environment to play in and I’m sure it will be a great atmosphere. We need the crowd with us. It is imperative in these last two (home) games that they are there and we know they will be there for us, and we have to perform. We have to be ready. Sometimes, with the early kick-offs, it can surprise you. You can wake up and it’s very unusual for the players so they have to adapt and the crowd have to adapt to be ready for the kick-off and be in full voice.

Every game we have between now and the end of the season becomes our biggest game of the season. We know the importance of where we finish in the Premier League. We’re doing everything we can to finish as high as we can and there’s a possibility it can go to the last game. All we can do is take care of our next opponent and try to give everything we can to win.

We expect [Chelsea] to revert to near their last Premier League side, which was an impressive game against Liverpool, and they performed very well and they have a lot of attacking players back in form so it should be a good game. We have played Chelsea twice this season so we know their qualities. I think the game at Stamford Bridge was one of our hardest games of the season. They have a really deep squad with a lot of quality players but I think they’ve found a consistency in their Premier League selection, recently, where they haven’t changed too much and they’ve been successful with that philosophy.”

Enzo Maresca, meanwhile, says “[Newcastle] are very aggressive, especially when we are on our side, they go man-to-man. When they are on their side, they are medium block, but physically they are very strong and aggressive. I hope [it brings out the best of us]. We have played teams who play low block and teams who try to be aggressive, we have had good games in both situations. After the Liverpool game, someone said to me we played the same XI for the first time in six months. It’s important if you can continue with the same players. Hopefully, on Sunday, we can have a good game.

Tonali this season has been top for Newcastle, he is doing very well. He is a fantastic player, but they have many, many good players, like Bruno Guimaraes, Josh Murphy, Joe Willock, and Joelinton who is injured. They have different kinds of players who are good players, but now we have Romeo [Lavia] back, Moi [Caicedo] and Enzo [Fernandez] are doing well, Cole [Palmer] is doing well. It will be a huge game. We are going to try to prepare the game in the best way, the way we think we can win, and hopefully at the end we can be happy with the result.”

SQUAD NEWS

For Newcastle, Jamal Lascelles (knee), Lewis Hall (foot) and Matt Targett (hamstring) miss out. Joelinton is thought to be recovering from a knee injury, whilst Fabian Schar and Kieran Trippier are fit.

For Chelsea, Marc Guiu (hamstring), Omari Kellyman (hamstring) and Wesley Fofana (hamstring) are injured. Mykhaylo Mudryk (suspended) also remains out.

TEAMS

NEWCASTLE (Possible line-up): Pope; Trippier, Schar, Burn, Livramento; Guimaraes, Tonali, Willock; Murphy, Isak, Gordon

CHELSEA (Possible line-up): Sanchez; Caicedo, Chalobah, Colwill, Cucurella; Lavia, Fernandez; Neto, Palmer, Madueke; Jackson

LAST SEASON

Newcastle 4-1 Chelsea (25 November 2023)

CURRENT FORM (PL)

NEWCASTLE: WWWLWD

CHELSEA: WDDWWW

OTHER STUFF

• Newcastle have won seven of their last 11 league games against Chelsea at St James’ Park
• Chelsea have beaten Newcastle 31 times in the Premier League.
• The two sides are level on points and goal difference with three games to play.
• Newcastle have lost only one of their last nine games in all competitions.
• They have earned 43 points from their last 20 fixtures, a tally surpassed only by Liverpool’s 46.
• Newcastle have won eight of their 15 games in all competitions this season against other sides in the current top seven.
• Chelsea are unbeaten in six league games and have won three in a row for only the third time all season.
• Chelsea have conceded five goals in their last nine games.

PREDICTION

Sportsmole: Newcastle 3-1 Chelsea