Sunday 28th January 2018 Kick off 1300hrs Chelsea v Newcastle Football – England – FA Cup
Chelsea have been knocked out of one cup competition already this week and they will be doing all they can to avoid going out the other domestic cup on Sunday as they host Newcastle at Stamford Bridge. For the visitors it’s all about Premier League safety and all the indications are that it will be a season long battle to preserve their top flight status. The FA Cup can provide a good distraction for clubs but the fact Newcastle have one of the smallest squads in the league, an extended cup run may put further strain on the limited resource available to Rafa Benitez.
Chelsea would have been extremely disappointed to exit the League Cup on Wednesday against London rivals Arsenal. Although not in the best of form of late, the Blues would have targeted that competition as being winnable, or at least reach the final and take their chance against Manchester City. It started ever so well as they took a first half lead but they were unable to hold that for any length of time and eventually succumbed 2-1 to the Gunners. Ironically, it was Arsenal who deprived them of glory in last year’s FA Cup as well so Antonio Conte will be glad that Arsene Wenger’s men have no chance of getting the better of them this season having already been knocked out. Any home time at this stage of the competition is well received and the Blues will hope that a return to Stamford Bridge – where they have not lost a domestic cup tie since 2015 – will be the catalyst for not only progression in this competition but also act as a kickstart to the season which has stalled of late, and with the Champions League just round the corner they have to get firing once again.
Newcastle’s season has been all about survival since they won promotion from the Championship in the last campaign and nothing has changed from that perspective. The Magpies currently sit in 15th spot – coincidentally splitting the other two promoted teams from last year – but are only a point outside the relegation zone. It is shaping up to be one of the most competitive relegation battles for a long time with just six points between 10th placed Watford and the bottom club Swansea. With only a few days of the transfer window left it is looking unlikely that Newcastle will add any significant quality or numbers to the squad so Benitez is going to have to work with what he has and that may lead to him having to sacrifice a run in the FA Cup as a result. They reached this stage with a comfortable 3-1 win against Luton at St James’ Park in the last round and had they been given a similar tie once again they may have looked on it differently. However, being drawn away to Chelsea is one of the hardest ties they could have gotten and the manager may well adjust his team selection accordingly with two massive games against Burnley and Crystal Palace to come in the next week.
Chelsea v Newcastle United Betting Tip
Chelsea have dominated this fixture when play at Stamford Bridge with Newcastle United managing only two wins in over 30 years at the London venue. The 3-1 win for the Blues over Newcastle in early December was as routine as they come and they would relish something similar on Sunday. I alluded to their excellent cup record when playing at home and it’s something they will be hoping to preserve, however their form will have to improve and they simply have to be more creative and clinical in attack. For Newcastle it’s all about the league and whilst I may be somewhat writing them off naively, it’s a logical approach to take. Benitez is facing one of his old clubs of course and will not want to just roll over so he’ll look to frustrate Chelsea in the early stages, similar to how Norwich approached the replay 10 days ago. The Championship side ran their hosts to penalties on that occasion and Newcastle may feel capable of doing something similar.
I think Chelsea and their manager Conte will be hurting following the derby defeat in midweek and this looks like an ideal opportunity to get their season back on track. They’ve struggled for goals at home of late but we seen in their 4-0 win away to Brighton in the league last week that once they get on a roll they are hard to stop. I think that may be the case again and backing the hosts to win and over a minus of a goal handicap to start with seems the way to go.
Chelsea -1 5/4 @ Coral
