Chelsea have nine more Premier League games to play this season. With our victory at Villa Park last time out, we moved up to fifth place on 48 points, three points behind Aston Villa in fourth and Man Utd in third. Man Utd host Villa on Sunday.

Newcastle are 12th with 39 points, nine points behind fifth-place Chelsea.

Head-to-head

The Blues have lost one of our 30 home games in the Premier League against the Magpies (22 wins, seven draws), winning 11 of the last 12 since a 2-0 defeat in May 2012.

However, Newcastle have avoided defeat in five of their past seven Premier League games against Chelsea.

Fifteen of Newcastle’s 16 Premier League victories against Chelsea have come at St. James’ Park.

Chelsea have only beaten Tottenham (82) on more occasions than we have Newcastle (78) in all competitions.

In our reverse fixture against Newcastle just before Christmas, we recovered from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 thanks to a Reece James free-kick and a Joao Pedro goal.

A total of 37 of the 61 Premier League games between Chelsea and Newcastle have been won by the home side, the most home wins of any fixture in the competition’s history.

Head-to-head (all competitions)

Played: 179
Won: 78
Drawn: 43
Lost: 58

Last five meetings at Stamford Bridge

13 Mar 2022 | Premier League W 1-0 | Havertz
28 May 2023 | Premier League D 1-1 | Own goal
19 Dec 2023 | League Cup D 1-1 | Mudryk (won on pens)
11 Mar 2024 | Premier League W 3-2 | Jackson, Palmer, Mudryk
27 Oct 2024 | Premier League W 2-1 | Jackson, Palmer

Biggest win for each team:

Chelsea 6-0 Newcastle 1980/81 Division Two
Newcastle 5-0 Chelsea 1974/75 Division One
Newcastle’s biggest win at Stamford Bridge is 3-0 in 1914/15 (Division One)

Chelsea stats

No team has scored in more different Premier League games than Chelsea this season (27), with the Blues’ only two blanks coming in goalless draws against Crystal Palace in August and Bournemouth in December.

Our game against Newcastle will be Chelsea’s 111th game in all competitions since the start of last season, which is more than any other European side.

In our last Premier League game, our 11 shots were the most a visiting side has managed in a first half in the competition at Villa Park since Manchester City in December 2021.

After coming from behind to beat Aston Villa in our last Premier League match, we have now gained 13 points from losing positions in the top flight this season.

Joao Pedro has been involved in six goals in his last six home Premier League appearances for Chelsea (five goals, one assist) and his goal at Wrexham last week was his 11th in his past 13 matches for the Blues. He needs two more to reach 20 goals for the season.

Only Erling Haaland (19) has scored more non-penalty goals in the Premier League this season than Joao Pedro (14), with only Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (19 in 2000/01) and Diego Costa (19 in 2014/15) netting more non-penalty goals in their debut Premier League season with Chelsea.

Chelsea are aiming to keep up our impressive March record, having gone unbeaten in Premier League home matches during this month since 2001. That year, Sunderland defeated us 4-2 at Stamford Bridge. Since then, Chelsea have played 40 such games, winning 33 and drawing seven.

Chelsea scored our earliest goal of the season in our last home game against Burnley (Joao Pedro - 3 minutes 13 seconds) and conceded the earliest in our last away Premier League game at Aston Villa (Douglas Luiz - 1 min 59 seconds).

Moises Caicedo is the only player to make a half-century of interceptions in the Premier League this season (51). He has made more interceptions than any other midfielder in the competition since he joined Chelsea in the summer of 2023 (137).

Premier League scorers
Joao Pedro 14, Palmer 9 (5 pens), Fernandez 8 (2 pens), Neto 5, Caicedo 3, Chalobah 3, Gusto 2, Estevao 2, James 2, Acheampong 1, Cucurella 1, Delap 1, Garnacho 1, own goal 1

Premier League assists
James 5, Garnacho 4, Joao Pedro 4, Neto 4, Cucurella 3, Fernandez 3, Estevao 2, Gittens 2, Gusto 2, Palmer 2, Caicedo 1, W Fofana 1, Guiu 1, Sanchez 1

Most Premier League minutes played
Chalobah 2,462, Fernandez 2,403, Sanchez 2,345, Joao Pedro 2,155, Neto 2,149, Caicedo 2,046, Cucurella 1,900, James 1,806, Gusto 1,654, Palmer 1,246

Milestones

If selected, Trevoh Chalobah will make his 100th Premier League appearance for the club.

Robert Sanchez is one game away from a century of Chelsea appearances.

The next game Enzo Fernandez captains the side, it will be the 50th time he has worn the armband from the start since he joined the club in 2023.

Newcastle stats

This season’s Premier League stats

Most minutes played (max 2,610): Thiaw 2,208, Tonali 2,045, Guimaraes 2,018, Pope 1,967
Most goals: Guimaraes 9, Woltemade 7, Barnes 5, Gordon 4, Thiaw 4
Most assists: Guimaraes 4, Miley 3, Burn 2, Gordon 2, Tonali 2, Woltemade 2
Most duels won: Thiaw 133, Hall 132, Guimaraes 126, Joelinton 126
Clean sheets: Pope 7
Most fouls conceded: Joelinton 36, Burn 33, Guimaraes 33, Trippier 20
Most yellow cards: Joelinton 8, Burn 7, Guimaraes 5
Red cards: Burn 1, Gordon 1, Ramsey 1

Only Leeds (nine), Burnley (nine) and Wolves (four) have won fewer points on the road this season than Newcastle (13). Their three away wins came at Tottenham, Burnley and Everton and their draws have been at Wolves, Bournemouth, Leeds and Aston Villa.

Each of Newcastle’s last nine Premier League away wins have been against teams starting the day in the bottom half of the table. They are winless in 11 on the road against top-half teams (three draws, eight defeats) since a 3-1 win at Nottingham Forest in November 2024.

Newcastle have lost each of their past five Premier League games that have come after playing in Europe in midweek.

The Magpies have lost more Premier League away games in London than any other side (94).

Both Newcastle and Chelsea have dropped 19 points from winning positions this season.

Sandro Tonali has had more shots without scoring than any other player in the Premier League this season (28).

Newcastle have Chelsea Academy products Lewis Hall and Tino Livramento in their squad. Hall won our Academy Player of the Year award in 2023 and Livramento was part of our PL2 title-winning team in 2020.

Eddie Howe’s management record vs Chelsea

Won: 8
Drawn: 4
Lost: 10

Last five Newcastle results

Qarabag (h) UCL | W 3-2
Everton (h) PL | L 2-3
Man Utd (h) PL | W 2-1
Man City (h) FAC | L 1-3
Barcelona (h) UCL | D 1-1

Last Premier League line-up

Newcastle United 2 Manchester United 1
Wednesday 4 March

Team (4-3-3): Ramsdale; Trippier (c), Thiaw, Burn, Hall; Ramsey, Tonali (Botman 90+7), Joelinton; Elanga (Murphy 84), Gordon (Osula 85), Barnes (Willock h/t)
Goals: Gordon 45+6, Osula 90

Discipline

Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez both need to avoid two more yellows in our next three Premier League games to avoid a two-match suspension.

Players who accumulate ten yellow cards in Premier League matches up to and including our 32nd fixture will serve a two-match suspension in the competition.

Chelsea Premier League yellow cards
Caicedo 8, Fernandez 8, Cucurella 5, Hato 4, James 4, Joao Pedro 4, Palmer 4, Sanchez 4, Santos 4, Chalobah 3, Estevao 3, Badiashile 2, Delap 2, W Fofana 2, George 2, Gusto 2, Neto 2, Tosin 2, Acheampong 1, Garnacho 1, Guiu 1

Match officials

Referee: Paul Tierney
Assistants: Simon Bennett, Richard West
Fourth official: Tom Bramall
VAR: Michael Salisbury
Assistant VAR: Peter Wright

Paul Tierney is officiating his first Chelsea match of the season.