CHELSEA and Newcastle United are two teams who have largely underachieved this season and they meet on Monday night to see if they can partly salvage their seasons.
Going into the weekend, Chllsea are languishing in 11th place and Newcastle in eighth and given the mega-millions spent by both clubs, that's a very poor return.
The hosts lost a Carabao Cup Final to a young Liverpool team and since then managed to progress in the FA Cup after a real scare from Championship side Leeds United and salvaged a draw at Brenford when it looked as if they were heading for defeat.
Newcastle had a similar scare in the FA Cup when they needed penalties to finally see off another Championship side in Blackburn Rovers.
However, they chalked up an impressive 3-0 win last week against Wolves.
Chelsea have plenty of injury worries with Ben Chilwell, Levi Colwill, Wesley Fofana, Reece James and Christopher Nkunku out, while Conor Gallagher is a major doubt.
But Newcastle have been bedevilled by injury problems all season and Kieran Trippier will join Joelinton, Nick Pope, Callum Wilson and Matt Targett on the sidelines for the trip to the capital.
How the bookies view it
Chelsea are odds-on favourites across the board here and 10/11 is the best price you can get from the likes of bet365, Coral, 10bet and others.
Newcastle have been chalked up at 16/5 by William Hill and the draw is 13/5 with BetVictor.
Recent head to heads
Newcastle romped to a 4-1 win at St James' Park earlier this season although Chelsea won a League Cup meeting between the pair on penalties.
Chelsea are unbeaten in the last dozen encounters between the teams at Stamford Bridge.
Players to watch
Nicolas Jackson netted the opening goal last week at Brenford and it was the Senegal international's 11th goal of the campaign. He is 6/4 to score anytime with bet365.
Alexander Isak scored his first goal for five games last week and his 16th of the season for club and country. The Swedish striker is 9/5 to score anytime with Paddy Power.
Anything else catch the eye?
There's only four points between the sides with Chelsea having a game in hand too and there's a reason for that – both teams are similarly matched and it could pay to back the draw here.
There's little between the sides both in form and because they both have a number of injuries.
Newcastle's last nine games in the Premier League have gone over 2.5 goals and with Chelsea featuring in an entertaining 2-2 draw last week, go for both teams to score and over 2.5 goals at a solid 4/6 with bet365.
This English Premier League match between Chelsea and Newcastle United will be played on Mar 11, 2024 and kick off at 20:00. Check below for our tipsters best Chelsea vs Newcastle United prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
