Newcastle United vs Chelsea - Match Preview
Emotions will no doubt still be running high following the death of Gary Speed, as one of his former clubs, Newcastle United, take on Chelsea in the weekend’s early kick off.
Emotions will no doubt still be running high following the death of Gary Speed, as one of his former clubs, Newcastle United, take on Chelsea in the weekends early kick off. This will not be Newcastles official tribute match to Speed, which has been scheduled for their clash with Swansea in two weeks time. This is at the request of Speeds wife, Louise, who will be in Leeds on Saturday to watch another of her late husbands former clubs but who still wants to attend the Newcastle tribute. Newcastle boss, Alan Pardew, said this week that he hoped his players could pick up all three points as a tribute to Speed. Our players will be desperate to win to pay a tribute in that way. We can't guarantee that, of course, but we are going to try. He was a great player here and a captain of this club, and he has been a big loss to us this week, he said. So, back to comparably insignificant footballing matters. Newcastle have reached the third of three tough league fixtures, having picked up just one point from the two Manchester clubs. Still, Alan Pardews men will have taken much heart from their gutsy performance at Old Trafford and will be looking to heap further pressure on Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas. The Magpies sit one place and one point above the London club in the league and will be confident of taking something from the game and making the most of their home advantage. That home is now officially entitled the Sports Direct Arena thanks to owner Mike Ashley, although I imagine the majority of fans will simply ignore that fact and continue to call their stadium St. James Park. Whatever you want to call it nobody can argue with just one home defeat in 2011. While Newcastle will enjoy their home advantage, Chelsea may enjoy playing away, as their form at Stamford Bridge has been far from solid. It was the scene of two recent defeats to Liverpool as well as the 5-3 defeat to Arsenal. That said the Blues form in the North East has been good in recent times, having not lost since a 2-1 defeat to Middlesbrough in 2006. This is likely to provide little comfort for Chelseas young manager, though, who will be well aware of upcoming games against Manchester City and Tottenham as well as a crucial Champions League tie with Valencia on Tuesday night. Both league matches between the two clubs ended in draws last term. This fixture ended 1-1 with goals from Andy Carroll and Salomon Kalou, while the return match at Stamford Bridge ended with a stoppage time equaliser from Steven Taylor to salvage a 2-2 draw for the Magpies.