Newcastle face a tough task in grabbing their first win of the season when they face Premier League leaders Chelsea on Saturday.
The Magpies came from behind to snatch a point in their 1-1 draw at Crystal Palace last weekend in their first game since Steve Bruce left the club.
The Tyneside outfit’s new owners are yet to appoint a replacement meaning interim boss Graeme Jones will once again take charge against the Blues.
Newcastle are just one place ahead of bottom-place Norwich – who were thrashed 7-0 by Thomas Tuchel’s in-form side during Chelsea’s last outing.
The Premier League clash will take place on Saturday, October 30.
The match at St James Park Park will kick off at 3pm.
Newcastle have only won one of their of their last six Premier League meetings against Chelsea, losing the other five, with their sole triumph a 1-0 victory in January 2020.
Newcastle v Chelsea: Team news
Jonjo Shelvey is available once again for the hosts after serving his one-game ban for the red card he was given in the 3-2 defeat against Tottenham.
Yet Joe Willock remains a doubt following the reveal that the ex-Arsenal midfielder has been battling a toe injury since September.
Martin Dubravka and Paul Dummett also face late fitness checks to assess whether either of them could return for interim boss Jones.
Chelsea meanwhile have a number of concerns, with Mateo Kovacic suffering a hamstring injury during training and will be sidelined for weeks.
Forwards Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner will both miss out once more while Christian Pulisic is still not ready to make his return from injury either.
But there is more positive news on N’Golo Kante who is set to be back in the matchday squad after he was rested for the Carabao Cup in midweek.
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Newcastle v Chelsea: Match facts
- Newcastle have lost five of their last six Premier League meetings with Chelsea, winning the other 1-0 in January 2020.
- Chelsea have won two of their last three Premier League away games against Newcastle (L1), more than they had in their previous seven visits to St James’ Park (W1 D2 L4).
- Since the start of last season, Newcastle have conceded more home league goals (43) and kept fewer home league clean sheets (two) than any other ever-present Premier League side over the two campaigns. The Magpies are yet to keep a league clean sheet at St. James’ Park this season.
- Newcastle are without a win in their nine league games so far this season. Only twice in their history have the Magpies failed to win any of their opening 10 games to a league campaign, though they avoided relegation at the end of the season both times (1898-99 and 2018-19).
- Chelsea are looking to win four consecutive Premier League matches under Thomas Tuchel for the second time. They previously did so in February, with the fourth game in that run coming against Newcastle United.
- Chelsea have already had 14 different goalscorers in the Premier League this season, the earliest in a campaign any team has ever had as many players score for them in the competition (excluding own goals).
- Chelsea have the best difference between goals scored (23) and expected goals (15) in the Premier League this season, netting eight goals more than their xG suggests. At the other end, Chelsea have conceded (3) almost eight goals fewer than their xG against (10.7), also the best difference in the division.
- Mason Mount has been involved in more Premier League goals for Chelsea under manager Thomas Tuchel than any other player at the club (11 – 7 goals, 4 assists), with the England midfielder netting a hat-trick against Norwich last time out.
- Newcastle striker Callum Wilson has scored six goals in his last six Premier League games, as many as he had in his previous 21 in the competition. He’s looking to score in four consecutive appearances in the competition for the second time, previously doing so in September 2019 with Bournemouth.
- Ben Chilwell has scored in each of his last four Premier League appearances for Chelsea (4 goals). He’d only scored two goals in his first 26 games for the club in the competition.
Tuchel said:
“Atmosphere in the stadium for them, the experience right now has huge value to play against us. We cannot fixate on being so-called favourites.
“I like how we have approached these matches, the effort we have put in, exactly what we want from our team.
“We know very well that you can turn things around and close gaps in 90 minutes.
“Newcastle will try to put up their best performance but we are responsible for us, to set new standards and meet what we demand. We expect a tough game.”
