Preview: Newcastle United vs Chelsea - prediction, team news, lineups

Fresh from their EFL Cup quarter-final triumphs in midweek, Newcastle United and Chelsea lock horns for a Premier League contest at St James’ Park on Saturday lunchtime.

The Magpies and the Blues meet for the first time since May last season when Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimaraes scored in a 2-0 top-flight home victory for Eddie Howe’s side.

Match preview

Newcastle have moved one step closer to retaining the EFL Cup after they left it late to beat Fulham 2-1 in the quarter-finals on Wednesday night, with local lad Lewis Miley netting a dramatic 92nd-minute winner in a tight contest that also saw Yoane Wissa score on his first start for the club.

A tricky two-legged semi-final against Man City awaits the Magpies in 2026, but they must now shift their focus back to the Premier League, with Howe’s men currently sitting 12th in the table after 16 games (W6 D4 L6) but only four points behind the top five.

Newcastle suffered a painful 1-0 away defeat to arch rivals Sunderland last weekend and they have now conceded at least one goal in each of their last nine Premier League matches – they have never gone 10 consecutive games without a clean sheet under Howe, last doing so as a club with a run of 14 between August and November 2021 under Steve Bruce (eight games), Graeme Jones and Howe (three games each).

The Magpies will welcome a return to St James’ Park where they have picked up 72.7% of their Premier League points this term and have scored exactly two goals in each of their last five home league matches. In fact, they average exactly two goals per home game under Howe (158 goals in 79 games) and only Kevin Keegan boasts a higher home goals-per-game ratio as the club’s manager (175 goals in 81 games, 2.16).

Newcastle head into Saturday’s clash having won their last two meetings with Chelsea by a 2-0 scoreline and have also come out on top in their last three Premier League home matches against the Blues, last winning more consecutively against them at St James’ Park between 1994 and 1998 (four).

Not long after head coach Enzo Maresca endured "the worst 48 hours" of his tenure at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea followed up their 2-0 Premier League win over Everton with a 3-1 victory against third-tier leaders Cardiff City to secure their spot in the EFL Cup semi-finals.

Either Arsenal or Crystal Palace awaits the Blues in the last four, but five Premier League fixtures in a row will now be at the forefront of Maresa’s mind as they endeavour to consolidate their place in the top four and potentially reduce the eight-point gap to the Gunners at the summit.

Before preparing for Premier League games against Aston Villa, Bournemouth, Man City and Fulham, Chelsea will test their mettle at St James’ Park and will be looking to avoid losing consecutive league meetings without scoring against Newcastle for the first time since February 1933.

The West Londoners are the fourth-highest scorers in the Premier League this season (27), but they rank first for clean sheets (eight, level with Arsenal), with Maresca’s men keeping a shutout in five of their last seven league matches.

Aside from a disappointing 3-1 loss at Leeds United just over a fortnight ago, Chelsea have looked particularly solid at the back on the road, keeping four clean sheets in their last five Premier League away matches – they had recorded only five clean sheets in their 38 away games beforehand.

Newcastle United Premier League form:

Newcastle United form (all competitions):

Chelsea Premier League form:

Chelsea form (all competitions):

Team News

Newcastle’s Tino Livramento sustained a knee injury in midweek will now join Dan Burn (rib), Nick Pope (groin), Kieran Trippier (hamstring), Sven Botman (back), William Osula (ankle) and Emil Krafth (knee) in the treatment room.

Lewis Hall missed the win over Fulham win with a minor hamstring problem, but Howe revealed after the game that the former Chelsea man “has a chance” of featuring in some capacity this weekend.

Newcastle are light in the full-back department and will hope that Hall will be fit to start at left-back, while Miley may be tasked with filling in a right-back once again, as Sandro Tonali and Joelinton push to earn a recall in midfield alongside Guimaraes.

Howe is still managing Wissa’s minutes after his lengthy spell on the sidelines through injury, so Nick Woltemade is expected to return up front, while Anthony Gordon and Anthony Elanga are both in contention to return on the flanks.

As for Chelsea, Brazilian starlet Estevao Willian will miss out due to a muscle injury, joining Liam Delap (shoulder), Levi Colwill (knee), Romeo Lavia (thigh) and Dario Essugo (thigh) on the sidelines, while Mykhaylo Mudryk (suspended) also remains unavailable.

After making 11 changes for the midweek win at Cardiff, Maresca is set to revert to his strongest side against Newcastle, with star playmaker Cole Palmer likely to return in his favoured No.10 role after being rested in midweek, and Joao Pedro is set to lead the line.

Alejandro Garnacho will hope to force his way back into the first XI on the left flank after scoring two second-half goals as a substitute against Cardiff. Pedro Neto is also likely to earn a recall – the Portuguese has been involved in more PL goals than any other Chelsea player this season (eight - five goals, three assists), with four of his five goals scored coming away from home.

Moises Caicedo is now available to start in the Premier League after serving a three-match ban and he could line up with Enzo Fernandez in a deep-lying midfield role, while Reece James and Wesley Fofana are both in contention to feature in a four-man defence with Trevoh Chalobah and Marc Cucurella.

Newcastle United possible starting lineup:

Ramsdale; Miley, Schar, Thiaw, Hall; Tonali, Guimaraes, Joelinton; Elanga, Woltemade, Gordon

Chelsea possible starting lineup:

Sanchez; James, Chalobah, Fofana, Cucurella; Caicedo, Fernandez; Neto, Palmer, Garnacho; Pedro

We say: Newcastle United 2-2 Chelsea

The home side have won 37 of the 60 Premier League meetings between Newcastle and Chelsea, which is the most home victories of any fixture in the division’s history – a statistic that will give the Magpies added optimism ahead of Saturday’s contest, given their strong home record this season.

However, the majority of Chelsea’s expected lineup will have had a few extra days to recharge their batteries and we can see the Blues taking advantage of the hosts’ depleted defence. Whether that will be enough to claim maximum points remains to be seen, though.

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