Playing just their third Premier League home game of 2024 so far, Chelsea return to face the aggrieved Stamford Bridge faithful on Monday evening, when Newcastle United pay a visit to their West London home.
The Blues stole a point off of Brentford in a 2-2 draw with the Bees last weekend, whereas Eddie Howe's side hit Wolverhampton Wanderers for three without reply to return to winning ways.
Match preview
© Reuters
Two under-fire Chelsea chiefs felt the wrath of supporters at the Gtech Community Stadium last weekend, where Mauricio Pochettino and co-owner Todd Boehly were both targeted by profanity-laden chants as the Blues rode their luck to snatch a point from their West London foes.
Thomas Frank's side - vying for points at the wrong end of the Premier League table - had established a 2-1 lead thanks to Mads Roerslev's effort and Yoane Wissa's astounding acrobatic strike after Nicolas Jackson's opener, but Axel Disasi arrived at the back post to head home the game's fourth and final goal.
Amid fans' anger and a handful of calls to replace Pochettino with the newly-unemployed Jose Mourinho, the former has conceded that he is not 'feeling the love' from the Blues faithful following an all-too familiar top-flight setback, meaning it is now just one win in five Premier League games for the fallen behemoths.
The Argentine's side remain 11th in the table thanks to Fulham's failure to beat Wolverhampton Wanderers, and should Chelsea play out a third Premier League draw on the bounce here, they will already match their points tally of 37 from the whole of their troubled 2022-23 campaign - a victory would therefore see the Blues better that shocking showing.
Few supporters will be jumping for joy if either of those scenarios come to fruition, though, especially following the announcement of a £90.1m pre-tax loss for 2022-23, and Chelsea arrive back in West London on an eight-game run without a clean sheet across all competitions, shipping 12 goals in their last five top-flight encounters.
© Reuters
As Chelsea laboured to a point in the capital last weekend, one of their erstwhile youth products capped off an eye-catching 3-0 success for Newcastle against Gary O'Neil's Wolves, who were 2-0 down by half time thanks to Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon's efforts in the pouring rain.
The enforced withdrawals of Jose Sa and Pedro Neto effectively extinguished any hopes of a fightback from the visitors, and Howe's team further improved their goal difference in the dying embers through Tino Livramento, who spent 12 years at Chelsea without making a single first-team appearance.
With a dramatic FA Cup penalty-shootout success over Blackburn Rovers also in the bag, Newcastle now bid to win three games on the trot in all competitions for the first time since early October and arrive in West London residing in ninth place in the table, having been bumped down one place by their recent victims.
Keeping Wolves at bay also ended a nine-game Premier League streak without a clean sheet for the Magpies, who are a far cry from the defensive force they once were, but only 11 of their 40 points this season have been won on the road, where Sheffield United were the last team to draw a blank against them in September.
Furthermore, only the Blades (30) have let in more goals on the road than Newcastle's 29 this term, and their trip to Stamford Bridge for December's EFL Cup quarter-final ended in penalty-shootout heartache, but Howe's men ran riot in a 4-1 St James' Park success last November to make it three Premier League games unbeaten against the Blues.
Team News
© Reuters
Two of Chelsea's defensive starters at the Gtech Community Stadium - Ben Chilwell and Levi Colwill - have joined the Blues' growing injury list with knee and toe problems respectively, which will rule them out of this one, and the hapless former has been referred to a specialist.
An expected switch to a back four should therefore occur after Pochettino deployed a 3-5-2 last weekend - Marc Cucurella will slot in at left-back - and Conor Gallagher completes a trifecta of new concerns as he bids to overcome an illness.
Benoit Badiashile (groin) and Carney Chukwuemeka (ankle) will soon rejoin team training but are not match ready yet, while Wesley Fofana (knee), Lesley Ugochukwu (hamstring), Reece James (thigh), Christopher Nkunku (thigh) and Romeo Lavia (thigh) remain in the medical bay.
Howe shares Pochettino's pain when it comes to new defensive injuries, as Kieran Trippier will be out until after the international break with the calf issue he picked up against Wolves, while Lewis Hall - whose deal will be made permanent imminently - cannot face his parent club.
Livramento will therefore be promoted to the first XI after opening his Newcastle account last weekend, and fellow full-back Matt Targett - who has played just 77 Premier League minutes this season - could be in contention to make the bench after his severe hamstring injury.
The rest of the Magpies' long-term absentees are no closer to returning, though, as Callum Wilson (chest), Nick Pope (shoulder) and Joelinton (thigh) watch on from the sidelines with the suspended Sandro Tonali.
Chelsea possible starting lineup:
Petrovic; Gusto, Disasi, Chalobah, Cucurella; Caicedo, Fernandez; Sterling, Palmer, Mudryk; Jackson
Newcastle United possible starting lineup:
Dubravka; Livramento, Schar, Botman, Burn; Willock, Guimaraes, Longstaff; Murphy, Isak, Gordon
We say: Chelsea 2-2 Newcastle United
Chelsea rode their luck and then some in December's EFL Cup showdown with Newcastle, and a batch of fresh injury and illness concerns have served to disrupt the Blues' preparation for a game where three points could go a long way to easing some of the pressure on Pochettino.
The Magpies' awful defensive record on the road makes that scenario somewhat realistic, but the unpredictable Blues cannot be trusted to bolt their own back door shut, and another entertaining stalemate could be on the cards at Stamford Bridge.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Ben Knapton
