BBC prediction for Newcastle trip not positive for Maresca’s men

Chris Sutton has made his predictions for the Chelsea Newcastle game tomorrow, and it’s not good news for the Blues.

He’s not positive about us at the best of times, and in this case he has a good reason to doubt our ability to get a result in the North East.

Pundit backs Newcastle to beat Blues at home

“I certainly don’t think Maresca’s issues are with his team’s performances. His side are very principled in the way they play and they will cause Newcastle problems. I am still going to go with the Magpies to win it, though,” the former Chelsea striker said.

“I usually back them at home anyway, but this is prediction is mainly based on Chelsea’s recent record at St James’ Park, which is poor – they have not got anything there since 2021. Prediction: 2-1.”

It’s true that Chelsea have a bad record away at Newcastle, but then again this is an early kick off on a Saturday which could change things a little. On top of that, the Magpies have a host of injuries to deal with, a whole swathe of their defence is missing

The Blues seemed to respond well to the tension around Enzo Maresca by beating Cardiff in midweek, but this is a massively different test. We have to hope that the likes of Cole Palmer being fit can make the difference and help us break this nasty string of results.

In other news…

It’s crazy to think that Enzo Fernandez – who signed less than 3 years ago – is now one of our first team’s longest serving players. He’s developing into a key dressing room leader.

Before discussing the attackers, Enzo Maresca had already talked about his teams’ defending, which has taken them to the top of the clean sheet table as we approach the halfway mark in the season.