Newcastle United vs Chelsea 19/01/20

19 January 2020

Newcastle United and Chelsea go head-to-head at St. James’ Park in an exciting Premier League (PL) fixture.

Although they brought a three-game losing PL run to an end with a 1-1 draw with Wolves last weekend, the hosts will hardly find a way out of a severe crisis against a side they’ve lost to in each of their previous three top-flight H2Hs. Moreover, Newcastle’s drop-off in form has also affected their recent home performances, with the Magpies going from eight straight PL home fixtures without a loss (W4, D4) to back-to-back defeats. Both of those failures have seen Newcastle concede one or more goals in each half and draw a blank in the first period. Still, 61% of their total PL points have arrived at St. James’ Park, where Steve Bruce’s men also shipped only 35% of their 34 league goals conceded.

The visitors travel to Newcastle on a run of three consecutive PL matches without a loss (W2, D1), with each of those fixtures featuring at least one goal in both halves. Also, the Blues have established themselves as ‘away specialists’ this season, with 22 of their total 39 PL points coming on the road (56%), where Franck Lampard’s men are unbeaten in three consecutive games (W2, D1). Things are getting better for the Pensioners, as they’ve opened the scoring in eight of 11 PL away matches while scoring over 1.5 goals on seven of those occasions. But, Chelsea have won only once in their previous top-flight trips to Newcastle (W1, D1, L4), conceding two or more goals in five of those clashes.