Newcastle United v Chelsea F.C. Preview

[Ragatino]

Team news
Newcastle pair Fabian Schar and Kieran Trippier suffered cramp late on against Brighton but are fit to face top-five rivals Chelsea.

Head coach Eddie Howe says Joelinton is recovering well from the knee injury that was originally expected to rule him out for the rest of the season.

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca will restore his first-choice XI after making 10 changes for their Europa Conference League semi-final second leg against Djurgarden.

Marc Guiu is nearing a return after three months out with a hamstring problem.

Match facts
Head-to-head

Newcastle have won seven of their past 11 league games against Chelsea at St James' Park (D1, L3).

However, the Blues have beaten Newcastle 31 times in the Premier League, only boasting a better record against West Ham (32) and Tottenham (37).

The two sides are level on points and goal difference with three games to play.

Newcastle United

Newcastle have lost only one of their past nine matches in all competitions.

They have earned 43 points from their last 20 fixtures, a tally surpassed only by Liverpool's 46.

It is the most points they have collected over a 20-game run in the top flight since accruing 44 between September 2002 and January 2003.

The Geordies have won eight of their 15 matches in all competitions this season against other sides in the current top seven.

Eddie Howe has won seven of his 20 meetings with Chelsea in all competitions, with each victory coming against a different manager.

Alexander Isak has scored an unrivalled 19 goals among Premier League players since the start of December, while his 23 goal involvements in that period is second only to Mohamed Salah's 30.

In all competitions this season, Isak has scored 10 goals and assisted two against other teams in the current top seven.

Bruno Guimaraes has become the first top-flight player this season to win 100 fouls, and he is the first player to do in consecutive seasons since Jack Grealish in 2019-20 and 2020-21.

Chelsea

Chelsea are through to their eighth European final and a first since beating Manchester City to win the Champions League in 2021.

After a run of just four wins in 13 top-flight matches, they are unbeaten in six league games and have won three in a row for only the third time all season.

They conceded 36 goals in their first 26 league matches this season at a rate of 1.4 goals per game, but have only let in five in their last nine at 0.6 goals per match.

Against Liverpool, Chelsea scored more than two goals in a league game against anyone other than Southampton for the first time since 20 January.

No Blues player has been directly involved in more top-flight goals in 2025 than Enzo Fernandez's six (three goals and three assists).

Cole Palmer last week ended a run of 1,162 minutes without a league goal dating back to January.

[Ragatino]

Despite all the hype of them beating Liverpool's B team last week. They are not in good form.

They don't travel well to SJP. We beat them 7 out of 11 times

Newcastle have won seven of their past 11 league games against Chelsea at St James' Park (D1, L3)

It's a home win all day but we need to get the job done professionally regardless.

I'm sure this is not lost on the lads.

[Jammy89]

We need the 3 points here, this is the most important of the 3 games to get the 3 points quite frankly.

[Ragatino]

We need the 3 points here, this is the most important of the 3 games to get the 3 points quite frankly.

We've won 7 out of 11 at SJP against Chelsea. We beat them at home. That's the norm, We'll beat them again.

[Jammy89]

We've won 7 out of 11 at SJP against Chelsea. We beat them at home. That's the norm, We'll beat them again.

I hope you're right.

It's at these points I start worrying.

[toptoon]

Tough game. Exciting game. This is what we missed in those 15 years.

[Sclox]

I'd have snapped your hand off to be in this position at Christmas.

Cup in the bag, Europe in the bag with the opportunity to get CL qualification in our own hands with effectively a 3 point head start with 3 to go.

Life is good today but the pressure will be on if we aren't at the races tomorrow

[Ragatino]

I hope you're right.

It's at these points I start worrying.

They are gonna be sh1tting it, having to come to SJP. No team likes to come to Newcastle these days. We have nothing to fear.