Prediction & odds for the game: Newcastle (53/10) v Chelsea (9/20) – ST is backing the away win

When: Saturday, 21st November @ 12.30pm K.O

Where: St. James’ Park

Newcastle United and Chelsea will take part in the first Premier League game of the weekend on Saturday following the final international break of the year.

Newcastle

Regardless of whether or not Newcastle United are able to ease away from the relegation zone this season, there are still bound to be questions hanging over the head of manager Steve Bruce. He’s a capable pair of hands at the best of times for any given top flight club, but more often than not, he lacks the tactical nuisance that he needs to inspire real change. Newcastle fans are the first ones to admit that, and it’ll be interesting to see how their situation develops as the months go by.

Scraping through against Newport County in the Carabao Cup didn’t do much to inspire the masses, but a 3-1 win over Burnley did ease some of the fears from even the most pessimistic fans. They did fall to a 4-1 defeat against Manchester United in their next outing but then came two surprising yet welcome results as they drew 1-1 with Wolves before beating Everton. In their last outing, however, things weren’t quite so positive as they were well and truly beaten 2-0 by Southampton.

Chelsea

From pretenders to contenders – Chelsea Football Club are back in business. Many fans and pundits were somewhat rightly writing them off at the beginning of the campaign, but the tides have slowly been turning in the last few games with Lampard being able to blend together a phenomenal attack with an improving defence. We aren’t suggesting they will be immediate contenders in the title race, but ruling them out altogether would be a mistake.

Back to back 0-0 draws against Sevilla and Manchester United were needed, if only to stem the flow of goals that the Blues had been conceding, but the next four games really did prove what Chelsea are capable of. They tore through Krasnodar 4-0, they battered Burnley 3-0, they outclassed Rennes 3-0 and they came from behind to put Sheffield United to the sword in their last game before the break.

Conclusion

The first game back is always a tough one to get to grips with and we’re expecting that to be the case for these two on Tyneside. Newcastle are a gritty side but they lack the spark necessary to cause Chelsea any sustained kind of damage, whereas the Blues have a tendency to slip up in games that they should win. Still, Frank Lampard’s men were starting to piece it all together nicely before the international break, and we expect them to continue that run of form with a win against the Magpies on Saturday.

Our official scoreline prediction is 1-0 which is why we’re backing the under 2.5 goals market.

Verdict: Back the away win at odds of 9/20 and the under 2.5 goals scored at odds of 6/5 (All odds are taken from bet365).

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If you want to bet on Newcastle vs Chelsea then head on over to the betting page. Alternatively, you can check out some of the other available fixtures at the soccer predictions page ahead of what is bound to be a thrilling few months of Premier League action.