Football

Newcastle vs Chelsea LIVE: Line-ups confirmed, Premier League updates from St James’ Park


How the 3pm kick-offs affect things…

4.50pm: Both Newcastle and Chelsea remain in 13th and 4th after the six 3pm kick-offs today, with not much else affecting the sides.

Chelsea now Manchester United and Wolves five points behind them after Nuno Espirito Santo’s side claimed a comeback win at St Mary’s.

Newcastle’s five-point gap on the drop zone has now been trimmed by one point after Villa grabbed a draw at Brighton.

Here are all the afternoon results…

Arsenal 1-1 Sheffield United

Brighton 1-1 Aston Villa

Man City 2-2 Crystal Palace

Norwich 1-0 Bournemouth

Southampton 2-3 Wolves

West Ham 1-1 Everton

What’re the numbers saying?

4.40pm: The boffins at Opta have conjured up some eyebrow-raising numbered-based facts ahead of the showdown. Good on them. Here they are.

  • Newcastle have taken just four points from their last eight Premier League games against Chelsea (W1 D1 L6), losing each of their last three meetings
  • Chelsea have only beaten Tottenham (29 wins) more often in the Premier League than they have Newcastle (25 wins)
  • Newcastle have lost their last two Premier League home games, conceding as many goals in those defeats as they had in their previous seven combined at St James’ Park (5)
  • Despite having the joint-second highest points tally away from home in the Premier League this season (22), Chelsea have kept just one clean sheet on the road this term, conceding 19 goals in their 11 games
  • Four different English players have scored a combined 20 Premier League goals for Chelsea this season, the most on both counts in a season for the Blues since 2012-13 (5 players scoring 23 goals)

Confirmed line-ups

4.30pm: Here’s how both sides line up today…

Newcastle: Dubravka; Krafth, Clark, Lascelles, Fernandez, Willems; Shelvey, Hayden, Almiron; Saint-Maximin, Joelinton

Subs: Darlow, Schar, Ritchie, Lejeune, Atsu, S Longstaff, M Longstaff

Chelsea: Arrizabalaga; James, Rudiger, Christensen, Azpilicueta; Kante, Jorginho, Mount; Willian, Abraham, Hudson-Odoi

Subs: Caballero, Zouma, Emerson, Barkley, Kovacic, Pedro, Bathsuayi

 

Lampard’s take

4.20pm: Lampard knows the challenge awaiting his side as 50,000 expectant Geordies welcome them to St James’ Park.

“Even though we have good away form in general every game brings new challenges,” he said.

“Going to Newcastle I know the emotion of the crowd, the very organised team they are, the manager they have, and also the threats they have. They have got some really good results this season. We will be taking nothing lightly.

“We have to take this game head on. It is massively important we keep our focus game in, game out. We certainly can’t underestimate Newcastle because of the season they’re having.”

Bruce on injury boost

4.10pm: Javier Manquillo, DeAndre Yedlin, Ki Sung-yueng and Yoshinori Muto, Paul Dummett and Dwight Gayle are all out for Newcastle, who have been blighted by injuries of late.

But Saint-Maximin’s return to fitness has boosted Bruce’s spirits.

“I think that’s good news for everybody,” he said on the winger. “He’s trained for the last two weeks, and we hope he’s going to be OK for tomorrow.

“He’s got that absolute pace – that raw pace and power and that natural ability to go past someone. He is one where he can, in a flash, turn the game for you.

“And we’ve seen it many times with him – when he’s been in the team, the results speak for themselves. We’ve missed him over the past four or five weeks, but then even the biggest teams miss their best players. It’s good to have him back.”

GOOD EVENING, HA’WAY…

4pm: And welcome to Express Sport‘s live coverage of Newcastle vs Chelsea at the lovely St James’ Park on this fine – but chilly – Tyne and Wear evening.

Frank Lampard’s Blues are the boys in town today in search of three points – and they will be boosted by Newcastle patchy form which has brought just one Premier League point from the last 12 on offer.

The west London side, meanwhile, have collected a respectable seven points in that timeframe but remain an unpredictable entity under Lampard.

Team news coming soon, so get comfortable, get that seatbelt fastened and brace yourself for the ride.



READ SOURCE

Leave a Reply

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you accept our use of cookies.