Chelsea are being backed as favourites to beat Newcastle at St James’ Park on Saturday by Harry Redknapp despite starting the weekend below their opponents but the game is already dividing opinon. Mauricio Pochettino’s men can to within one point of the Magpies with a victory but must first overcome a hostile atmosphere in the north east.
Newcastle have struggled to find the consistency that led them into the Champions League so far this season, last recording back-to-back wins in the league in September. Distracted and challenged by their European adventure, which landed them into the toughest group going, things haven’t been as smooth as normal for Eddie Howe.
Although before the loss to Bournemouth ahead of the international break – a game clouded by the spate of injuries continuing to damage their hopes on all fronts – they had been on a 10-game domestic unbeaten run, beating Arsenal and both Manchester clubs across the league and Carabao Cup, a disappointing loss to Borussia Dortmund has left them with just two wins in the last six.
Now on the verge of falling behind the top five pace setters there are serious questions being asked of the squad that has been ravaged by injury issues. The Geordies could be without up to 12 players for the game which puts even the six men still out for Mauricio Pochettino into some context.
The clash is still one of the most mouthwatering of the season though with two front-foot sides facing off with implications for the rest of the campaign, especially with the hopes of gaining European football for 2024/25 so rife. The Blues are already 10 points off the top four currently, nine from fifth place Aston Villa, and will be keen not to let that gap grow anymore.
Even with a positive week before the international break, there is still a tendency for Chelsea to show major inconsistency despite their strong record against those at the top of the league. In this sense Newcastle might just be the perfect opponents for them and with a massively depleted squad there has possibly never been a better chance to make this trip.
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That is certainly what former Tottenham boss Redknapp thinks. He told BetVictor: “This should be good; we’ll see where these two sides are this season.
“Newcastle have had some terrible luck with injuries of late, they’ll hope to get one or two boys back for this one. We’ve seen the difference in this side, when one or two lads get injured, they don’t have the depth.
“Chelsea have been scoring goals in recent weeks. Four at Spurs, four at home to City, Poch is finding a system and an 11 that is working for him. I like the balance of the two wingers, [Raheem] Sterling on one side and [Cole] Palmer on the other.
“I wouldn’t have said this a month ago, but I’m saying it now, 2-1 to Chelsea!” Redknapp also expressed his shock that Sterling remains sidelined for his country despite going some way to matching last year’s output. “I’m surprised Sterling hasn’t been recalled to the England squad; he’s been right back to his best.”
The 28-year-old had one of his best games for a while against City and that was facing up to Kyle Walker. With Dan Burn out for Newcastle and Matty Targett also a doubt he may well be up against former Chelsea academy starlet Tino Livramento. On-loan Cobham graduate Lewis Hall – soon to be a permanent addition to Newcastle – can’t play either.
For this reason and the problems facing Howe in this game Danny Murphy has also predicted the away side to take all three points. He told Five: “I think Chelsea will win at Newcastle because of Newcastle’s injuries.” Fellow pundit on the show and former West Ham defender Anton Ferdinand echoed those thoughts.
“I think Chelsea, I think Chelsea have turned a corner now,” he said. “You’re starting to see more of a Poch-type team and they’ve turned a corner.”
Sky Sports punditry duo Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville disagree though, claiming that the Blues will be lucky to get anything at all from the game. Speaking on The Overlap Carragher stated: “I think Newcastle at home.”
Former Manchester United and England defender Neville is on the same wavelength. “2-0 Newcastle. Chelsea aren’t scoring up there.” The Blues have scored eight in their last two against opponents with better defensive records than their hosts on Saturday but did fall to a 1-0 defeat at the same ground last season almost one year to the day. Perhaps luckily for Pochettino almost everything about his side has changed since then, including himself.
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Olivia Martin is a dedicated sports journalist based in the UK. With a passion for various athletic disciplines, she covers everything from major league championships to local sports events, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis.
