The late kick-off on Saturday promises to be a treat to all football fans as the European Champions Chelsea play their 3rd game inside a week to take on the very promising Newcastle United, who interestingly finished above Chelsea last season. Both teams have made solid starts to the season and both teams currently posses unbeaten records though which team will come out on top on Saturday?
Chelsea kicked off their season almost 2 weeks ago in a losing effort against Manchester City in the Community Shield, though started their league season a day later than most with their opening Premier League fixture taking place last Sunday as they took home 3 points following a 2-0 win against Wigan at the DW Stadium. Chelsea moved to the top of the table on Wednesday in the first midweek game of the season as they scraped past Reading by the very flattering scoreline of 4-2.
Despite being top of the league with 6 points from 2 games Chelsea haven't looked sensational, in fact they've looked rather flat for large portions of their 2 matches with only new signing Eden Hazard and Branislav Ivanovic really looking threatening. Fernando Torres has looked off colour, Juan Mata appears to have completely forgotten his shooting boots and Frank Lampard has only looked like scoring from the penalty spot (which luckily for him he's had 2 chances from). Whilst they haven't been great they've been bagging the points and at the end of the day that's what matters.
Roberto Di Matteo will be wanting much more from his players here than he's seen from them so far this season and he'll be expecting them to step up a gear against a Newcastle team who will be looking to repeat last season's successes. With 2 goals conceded against Reading he'll worry just as much about their defense as attack, especially John Terry who looked off the pace against Jobi McAnuff in midweek. If they can tighten at the back and play from the defense they should just about nick this, but that hasn't been Chelsea's way in recent seasons as they've instead played attacking football often at the expense of defensive stability.
Like Chelsea, Newcastle have gotten off to a perfect start with a maximum 3 points from their opening game, a 2-1 victory over Tottenham Hotspur. Also like Chelsea, Newcastle didn't really perform against Spurs, in fact it's probably fair to say that Newcastle were the lesser team though they took their chances and secured the points.
Under Alan Pardew Newcastle have become a real threat to the Champions League places and will be looking to improve up on last season's 5th place. Sadly for them their 5th place finish last year may come back to haunt them here with the team having played in Athens on Thursday to face Atromitos in the Europa League. Having traveled to Greece and back in the past few days the players have really not been given a rest and they may very well look exhausted on Saturday. Added to the exhaustion of 2 games in 3 days they will also be with out 4 key players (Fabricio Coloccini, Demba Ba, Cheick Tiote and Shola Ameobi) who will all undergo late fitness tests.
Though the Magpies may have a number of fitness issues they have the a solid team and a manager who has them well drilled. Many of the players will also have memories of the same fixture last season, a match that Newcastle won 2-0 thanks to a brace by Papiss Cisse. In fact interestingly Newcastle's form at Stamford Bridge in recent years has been genuinely excellent with 2 wins and 2 draws in their last 4 games there.
Whilst Chelsea go in as a deserving favourite (4/7) they will know they are in for a game. It's, like I said earlier, their 3rd game inside a week and they are having a number of fitness issues themselves, including John Terry and new signing Marko Marin. With David Luiz expected to fill in for Terry, Newcastle may well see the opportunity to bag a goal or two for themselves. Sadly for the Newcastle fans Chelsea have a lot of quality up front and will likely fancy their chances to score more than they concede. I expect this will see both teams scoring, though Chelsea will likely grab a very hard fought win.
Prediction-2-1 Chelsea
Kick Off-17:30
Expected Line Ups:
Chelsea-
Cech, Cole, Ivanovic, Luis, Cahill, Lampard, Mikel, Ramires, Hazard, Mata, Torres (4-3-2-1)
Newcastle-
Krul, Simpson, Perch, S Taylor, Santon, Ben Arfa, Tiote, Cabaye, Gutierrez, Ba, Cisse (4-4-2)
Notes-Dependent on results earlier in the day, Chelsea could start this match top of the Premier League thanks it being their 3rd league game inside a week.
Newcastle's 1-1 draw with Atromitos on Thursday has caused them to play 2 games in 3 days having had to travel to Greece and back since their last Premier League fixture.
Surprisingly Newcastle defeated Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the league last season whilst Chelsea managed to defeat Newcastle at St James' Park.
Chelsea have scored a penalty in every Premier League game, in fact Lampard has scored a penalty in Chelsea's 2 Premier League games so far due to fouls on Eden Hazard and Branislav Ivanovic has also scored in every Chelsea Premier League game so far.
Every Premier League game featuring one of these two teams has had a penalty.
Players to watch-
Chelsea:
Eden Hazard-The Belgian has been pretty much the key to all of Chelsea's attacks so far this season and he may well be looking to pull the strings once again against a Newcastle defense who, whilst sturdy are nothing spectacular at the back, especially not if Coloccini is absent. Whilst he's yet to score in the Premier League he has created many of Chelsea's chances and also been the player taken out for Chelsea's two penalties so far.
Fernando Torres-It's only a matter of time before Torres gets back to regular goal scoring and whilst he did score against Reading in midweek he didn't look himself and he did need a helping hand from a poor decision by a linesman. It seems to be a confidence thing and hopefully the goal on Wednesday will help him regain.
Newcastle:
Hatem Ben Arfa-Attacking Midfielder Ben Arfa is one of the stand out players in the Newcastle squad and can do it all. If he gets on the ball expect the Chelsea defense, especially David Luiz, to make mistakes. Able to shoot, dribble and pass excellently he's a true threat both with his own shots and with his creative passing which could help open up the Chelsea defense at any time.
Tim Krul-This may seem like a weird choice but the Newcastle goalkeeper certainly appears to be one of the players that will need watching here. I expect he will be tested more than just once or twice and he will need to put on an excellent performance if Newcastle are going to get anything from the match.
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