Chelsea v Newcastle preview: Mourinho’s team should finally taste victory at St James’ Park
Chelsea v Newcastle, Saturday, 26/9/15, St James’ Park, 5:30pm
Live on Sky Sports 1
Odds: Newcastle 9/2, Chelsea 13/20, Draw 14/5
Referee: Martin Atkinson
Last Three Meetings:
Chelsea 2-0 Newcastle
Newcastle 2-1 Chelsea
Chelsea 3-0 Newcastle
2015/16 Form:
Newcastle: DLDLLL
Chelsea: DLWLLW
Injured:
Newcastle: Karl Darlow, Steven Taylor, Massadio Haidara, Paul Dummett, Emmanuel Riviere, Curtis Good, Papiss Cisse
Chelsea: Thibaut Courtois, Willian
Doubtful:
Newcastle: Jack Colback, Cheick Tiote, Sylvain Marveaux
Chelsea: Kenedy
Suspended:
Newcastle: None
Chelsea: Diego Costa
Win, Lose or Draw?
Newcastle could hardly be in worse condition to entertain Chelsea.
Still winless six games into the Premier League campaign, the Magpies have lost four of their last five and found the net once since the opening day of the season.
To make matters worse, Steve McClaren’s squad is wracked with injuries – at least ten first-team players are either out or doubtful for the Blues visit.
Chelsea, meanwhile, are somewhat resurgent after an off colour start of their own having scalped Maccabi Tel Aviv, nine-man Arsenal and Walsall for wins totalling an aggregate score of 10-1 in their last three outings.
For some time now such a one-sided summation has come to form the prologue to post-match reports of more shock Newcastle points against Chelsea at St James’.
The Tyneside air has always been Kryptonite for Jose Mourinho, who has yet to beat Newcastle on home turf in the league in five attempts.
That the Magpies have been able to sustain such an unlikely hoodoo against what has latterly been an backdrop of continual decline under Mike Ashley’s ownership up to now has been testament to the motivational and tactical nous of Alan Pardew.
Pardew has inspired increasingly shambolic setups to victory over the Blues on Chelsea’s last three visits and proved he has Mourinho’s number by masterminding a deserved Crystal Palace victory at Stamford Bridge earlier this term.
With Mourinho’s nemesis departed, the hosts’ weaknesses are expected to be exposed, emperor’s new clothes style, to the Portuguese’s ruthless eye.
Recommended bet: Chelsea to win (-1) @ 7/4
Over/Under?
As mentioned previously, the net has proven difficult to find for the Magpies under Steve McClaren.
The return of Aleksandar Mitrovic is expected to prove a false dawn in this regard, with his fishy temperament likely to be exacerbated by the frustration of spearheading a misfiring side.
While Chelsea are expected to win, they hardly oozed attacking incision against Arsenal even when the Gunners were reduced to nine players.
Recommended bet: Under 2.5 goals @ 19/20
Who’s going to score?
Pedro helped himself to Chelsea’s fourth against Walsall after being introduced for a 20-minute cameo at the Bescot Stadium, taking his tally in blue to two goals in five outings.
He may be the new boy on campus, but he is already his team’s leading shot-maker by a fair distance, averaging 3.5 efforts a league game to next best teammate Eden Hazard’s 1.8.
In Newcastle’s current form, picking a goalscorer looks a thankless task and punters may be better served siding with the 27/20 about them failing to net as a collective.
Recommended bet: Pedro to score anytime at X/X
What else should I be betting on?
The 2-0 win has always been the ACME of Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea successes, with control established early before the game is gently, but authoritatively put to bed.
In claiming victory by just such as score against an Arsenal side arguably there for the pounding at Stamford Bridge Mourinho offered us two timely reminders.
One, that his preference for shutting down the game defensively rather than offensively is still prevalent and two, that the manager is still wary of his side’s recent fragility.
Recommended bet: Chelsea to win 2-0 @ 27/4
This article originally appeared on News.Bwin.com