Newcastle v Chelsea: Premier League betting preview, free tip & team news

Free football tips, best bets and analysis for Newcastle United v Chelsea in the Premier League.

Where to watch

Sky Sports Premier League & Main Event, 5.30pm Saturday

Best bet

Newcastle +1 Asian handicap
1pt 21-20 bet365
Back this tip with bet365 here

Team news

Newcastle
Javier Manquillo, Jack Colback, Ki Sung-Yueng, Dwight Gayle, Paul Dummett, DeAndre Yedlin and Yoshinori Muto are out. Andy Carroll is a doubt.

Chelsea
Ngolo Kante and Marcos Alonso are doubts. Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Christian Pulisic are out.

Match preview

Chelsea have the kind of soft spot for Newcastle which makes an away bet hard to resist, although there are enough inconsistencies in both sides to make you wary about smashing into Frank Lampard’s raiders at short odds.

Chelsea have beaten Newcastle 25 times in their Premier League history – they’ve beaten only Tottenham more – so clearly a trip to Tyneside is one the travelling Blues hordes relish.

And Frank Lampard’s men tend to be seen at their best on the road where they get space to flourish on the counter.

They’ve scored 25 goals away from home this season – 14 more than they’ve scored at Stamford Bridge and four more than Newcastle have managed in total, home and away.

But a journey into Steve Bruce’s lair isn’t a typical awayday and it may pay to swerve the visitors, certainly at the price.

Newcastle treat home games like away games with the emphasis on playing two banks, pretty deep, and being set up to avoid defeat.

They have wing-backs who can be a threat but they will also be looking to play on the break which means Chelsea will see plenty of the ball at St James’ Park.

Newcastle aren’t going to be a soft touch and, with one or two in key areas returning from injury, may just get a chance to test a defence which has kept only five clean sheets this term.

The best bet looks to be Newcastle with a one-goal start on the Asian handicap at 21-20. A home victory or a draw is paid out as a winner while stakes are returned if they lose by just one goal.

The Magpies have lost only once this season by more than one goal at home, a 3-0 defeat by Leicester, but that was in the depths of an injury crisis which is easing.

Jamaal Lascelles, Ciaran Clark, Matt Ritchie and Allan Saint-Maximin were all missing when the Foxes pounced but are all fit now and that offers Bruce almost dreamy options.

Last weekend’s 1-1 draw at Wolves was the type of well-organised, defensive effort which Toon diehards are becoming used to. They managed only one shot on target, two corners and 34 per cent possession but it was a priceless point especially with two more players – Paul Dummett and Dwight Gayle – having to be substituted in the first half.

Miguel Almiron is finally starting to look a threat having scored in each of his last three, while Joelinton ended a 20-game drought against mighty Rochdale in the FA Cup during the week.

Chelsea are up and down. They’ve won four of their last ten, failing to break down the likes of West Ham, Brighton, Bournemouth and Southampton yet looking a million dollars at Tottenham.

They beat Burnley comfortably enough last week but Burnley are in a sorry state and if Newcastle can get close enough to Willian and Mason Mount the visitors could struggle to create chances.