Premier League - Newcastle United vs Chelsea

Both sides will be going into this match looking for a win. The home side will be desperate to bounce back from their crushing defeat at the hands of bitter Northeast rivals Sunderland the Sunday before, as well as with having won only 1 of their last 5 League games. Chelsea, too, will be hoping for another 3 points. The Blues have won 8 and drawn 1 of their last 9 matches since their shock home defeat at the hands of Swiss outfit Basel on the opening day of the Champions League campaign, scoring 23 goals and conceding just 4 in that time stretching back over 40 days, and with League-leaders Arsenal facing off in a head-to-head clash with in-form and equally high-flying Liverpool at the Emirates, Mourinho's men will surely have taking advantage of one or both sides dropping points that day in their sights.










Both sides also go into the match on the back of 2-1 results the weekend previous, albeit with each on differing ends. Newcastle faced off against detested Northeast neighbours Sunderland at the Stadium of Light, which saw a wonder-strike from former-Blue Fabio Borini hand former-Blue Gus Poyet a win in his first home game as Black Cats boss, and served the Magpies their first defeat since September. Chelsea, alternatively, triumphed 2-1 in a fiery head-to-head title clash against Manchester City at Stamford Bridge, finished off in dramatic fashion by unlikely hero Fernando Torres when the Spaniard fired home the winner on 90 minutes following a shambolic gaffe from City keeper Joe Hart to deliver the Blues their first victory over their Sky Blue counterparts in almost 2 years.










Managers on either side of this clash have famously or infamously been the recipients of fervent emotions from their respective sets of fans, especially lately, though in starkly opposing respects. The return of the so-dubbed 'Special One' to the Stamford Bridge dugout this summer following his abrupt dismissal in Autumn of 2007 was something the majority of Chelsea fans had been both longing and lobbying for for years, and the realisation of this long-held desire was a dream-come-true for the supporters the Portuguese says he is now interminably among. Pardew, conversely, is the scorn of the vast majority of the Tyneside populace. Having lead the club to an astonishing 5th-place finish in the Premiership in 2012, he oversaw a monumental collapse last term which saw the Magpies in the thick of a relegation dogfight, the grim fate of which they ultimately avoided by a relatively secure 5 points. Nevertheless, many of the St. James' Park faithful would be more than happy to see the back of the famously smug and often excuse-filled London-born boss, who once hailed his opponent in Saturday's clash as one of the biggest influences on his managerial career.










The corresponding fixture last season was an exhilarating 5-goal thriller. The home side went 1 up shortly before halftime courtesy of Jonás Gutiérrez, before 2 brilliant goals from Frank Lampard and Juan Mata - both of which contended for the club's Goal of the Season - put the visiting Blues in front after just over an hour. Moussa Sissoko, on his Newcastle home debut, equalised for the Magpies 7 minutes later, before scoring a dramatic winner in the 90th minute to send the St. James' terraces into delirium and pile more pressure on besieged Blues gaffer Rafa Benitez, who had just overseen a set of embarrassing 2-2 draws against Reading after being 2-0 up for 87 minutes, and third division Brentford in the FA Cup.









Lee Mason, who will preside over both of these sides for the first time this season, and who officiated in the reverse of this fixture 3 seasons ago in what turned out to be Double-winning Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti's final home game with the Blues before being guillotined by ax-happy Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, has been assigned referee for this match.










Key defensive duo Fabrizio Coloccini and Steven Taylor are in a fitness race to be available for this clash for the Magpies, while Chelsea once again have zero squad injuries.

Really looking forward to this match!
It's very possible that, providing we win, we will be sitting on top of the table come next week.


Only tough call will be Luiz or Cahill and I think Cahill will be favoured.

I honestly think, coming off the back of that loss, Newcastle will be lacking some form and could well be easily beaten. With Schalke midweek after this, I can imagine we'll be looking to get infront early on so we can rest a few players.

Newcastle (A)
West Brom (H)
West Ham (A)
Southampton (H)
Sunderland (A)
Stoke (A)
Crystal Palace (H)



Our next 7 PL games. Nice run. All imminently winnable. Maximum or near-maximum points from those and we'll have set ourselves up very, very well indeed.

The only hard game there is Soton.

We certainly could be on top should all things go our way!

Arsenal have:
Liverpool (h)
Man U (A)
Soton (h)
Cardiff (a)
Hull (h)
Everton (a)

No where near as easy as our run.

They've had their cakewalk for the entire duration of the season up to this most recent fixture. The real challenges begin for them this weekend.

I know, which is why I pointed their fixtures out for comparison.

Anyway, it'll be interesting to see Mou's selection for this one, especially in the 3 behind the striker. Mata with a brilliant goal yesterday, Schurrle with one himself against City. Hazard and Oscar both on scoring streaks themselves, as well as a good performance last night from Willian. Decisions, decisions.

And that leaves resurgent Nina out

Drop Lampard and play Nina infront of the band of 5.

Oh so drop a club legend like Sir Frank then?

Lampard doesn't have the legs Ramires does.

I'm just kidding

So am I:

 

In all honesty, I think he'll stick with Schurrle-Oscar-Hazard with Mata coming on at about 60th minute.

For me, the only decision is Cahill Luiz, which I think he'll favour Cahill.

Idk. Think Schurrle could be the one to be left out in favour of Mata.

I am not sure, Schurrle tracks back and Jose may want to stop Ben-Arfa so he might have Schurrle and Cole up against him.

Meh

I honestly just think He'll play Schurrle because he doesn't like Mata. I guess we'll see.

The best part about the next 7 or so games is that its the best time for Torres. If he is gonna make a come back believable.. now is the time.

Newcastle vs City going to 30 minutes of ET

who won?

Always good to wear them done before our game

iNFINITY9910 wrote:who won?

Ever hear of Google? espn.com? skysports.com?

Spoiler: