Rudiger is brought in for his first Premier League appearance of the season in Chelsea’s only change from their win over Sheffield United. Thiago Silva only returned from international duty on Friday and is not included in the squad. With Jorginho and Azpilicueta among the subs again, Kante will captain the visitors today.
Newcastle are without leading scorer Callum Wilson as the striker has failed to recover from an injury sustained against Southampton two weeks ago. Joelinton comes into the side in place of Wilson in one of four changes. Manquillo, Hayden and Clark, making his first Premier League appearance of 2020-21, replace Schar, Hendrick and Almiron.
Chelsea subs: Jorginho, Kepa Arrizabalaga, Cesar Azpilicueta, Olivier Giroud, Emerson Palmieri, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Andreas Christensen.
CHELSEA XI (4-3-3): Edouard Mendy; Reece James, Kurt Zouma, Antonio Rudiger, Ben Chilwell; Mateo Kovacic, N’Golo Kante (c), Mason Mount; Hakim Ziyech, Tammy Abraham, Timo Werner.
Subs: Jonjo Shelvey, Emil Krafth, Fabian Schar, Andy Carroll, Mark Gillespie, Miguel Almiron, Jeff Hendrick.
NEWCASTLE XI (5-4-1): Karl Darlow; Javier Manquillo, Federico Fernandez, Jamaal Lascelles (c), Ciaran Clark, Jamal Lewis; Jacob Murphy, Isaac Hayden, Sean Longstaff, Allan Saint-Maximin; Joelinton.
Chelsea lost 1-0 in this corresponding fixture last season through Isaac Hayden’s 90th-minute strike. In fact, Newcastle United have lost just one of their last seven home Premier League meetings with today’s opponents (W5 D1).
Newcastle lost 2-0 away to Southampton in their last match before the international break and are down in 13th, four points behind fifth-placed opponents Chelsea. Frank Lampard’s men are six games without defeat in the league and have won back-to-back matches.
Hello and welcome to our live text coverage of the Premier League meeting between Newcastle United and Chelsea at St James’ Park.
Be the first to comment