Chelsea vs. NUFC: Predictions for a cagey win against a resigned team

The ever-more-depleted Chelsea welcome Newcastle to Stamford Bridge.With many key Blues out of the lineup or at partial fitness, a home win is within reach, but “cagey” is the word of the day.

Chelsea could finish the weekend in second place. Manchester United could finish the weekend in the relegation zone. Newcastle will almost certainly stay steady in the bottom half of the bottom half.

Scott Brant: Chelsea 2 – 1 Newcastle. Chelsea will struggle out the gate with injuries still taking their toll. The score will be level for most of the match, and probably deservedly so. The Blues snatch the three points with an epic late Tammy Abraham goal.

Varun Dani: 3 – 0. The international break came at the worst time for Chelsea, halting the crucial momentum of a four-game winning streak. As usual, the torrid break brought with it some injuries in the most injury-hit Chelsea season this past decade, so recapturing that lost momentum will be tricky.

Having said that, Newcastle have plenty unresolved issues of their own, providing the Blues the perfect platform to keep their run going. Expect a cagey affair till the hour mark, with late goals sealing Frank Lampard’s fifth win on the trot.

Olly Smith: 4 – 1. With the hangover of the international break still lingering the Blues will start sluggishly. Newcastle have given Chelsea a surprisingly hard time in recent games so expect a slow start from both teams. A cagey first 60 minutes or so will see Chelsea concede yet again as a result in another lapse of concentration from a set piece.

The game will explode with late goals in the last 30 minutes. Tammy Abraham will open the scoring with Ross Barkley, Christian Pulisic and Michy Batshuayi scoring late to secure the win.

Olaoluwa Nwobodo: 2 – 0. With the international break now over, some players may still be rusty. Newcastle will give Chelsea a hard time as they usually do, but Lampard’s side will come out again on top, as they usually do. Marcos Alonso and Tammy Abraham goals.

Abhishek Pancholi: 4 – 0. Inexplicably, Newcastle United has been Chelsea’s bogey team over the past few years. They might be languishing in and around the relegation zone all season, but somehow always seem to play their two best games against Chelsea.

Not this time, though.

Steve Bruce chose to drink from the poisoned chalice that is Mike Ashley’s Newcastle United, and he must surely be feeling the effects by now. This game will make him want to finish off the bottle and be done with the whole thing.

The Blues will run the Magpies ragged in the opening 15 minutes, with only the woodwork keeping the score down to 1-0. The second half will be more of the same, with Newcastle camped in their own half under incessant Chelsea pressure. It won’t matter, as the home side will thump three more goals past a hapless and helpless Newcastle, against the background score of Rafael Benitez’s laughter blasted over the tannoy.

Barrett Rouen: 2 – 1. It’s tough for me because I want to beat Scott in our staff predictions contest, but I also refuse to bet against Chelsea, which means even if I think the score is going to be the opposite I would never say that publicly.

Newcastle are feeling good about themselves now and Chelsea have more injuries than they can sustain. This is going to be tough.

Nate Hofmann: 2 – 1. As much as I enjoyed watching Steve Bruce’s boys knock off the dumpster fire that is Manchester United a fortnight (please stop autocorrecting to Fortnite) ago, it’s hard to see Newcastle pulling off a similar trick at Stamford Bridge. A team can only ride the wave of good vibes from the Longstaff brothers for so long.

Bruce does know how to set up a defense though (Leicester match notwithstanding), so I don’t think Chelsea will roll over them.  With the continuing plague of injuries and a difficult trip to Amsterdam just around the corner, this particular match has major trap game potential.

That said, at the end of the day, Chelsea’s quality and variety in attack should be enough to get the three points.  On to the next.