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We’ve survived another international break, so now it’s time for more proper football! First up is a home test against Newcastle United, in what should be (“should” be) a fairly easy and straightforward win, but as we know, such things are a rarity in the Premier League — especially for a young team.
That said, Lampard’s Chelsea have started to show a bit of consistency before the break, so hopefully that continues and we can pick up exactly where we left off, with wins against Grimsby Town (7-1), Brighton (2-0), Lille (2-1), and Southampton (4-1).
As usual, games will be coming thick and fast before the next international interruption, so everyone will have to be at their best.
Date / Time: Saturday, October 19, 2019, 15:00 BST; 10am EDT; 7:30pm IST
Venue: Stamford Bridge, SW6
Referee: Andre Marriner — the experienced official will be taking charge of his 45th Chelsea match. We saw him last for the 2-0 win over Spurs in February.
Forecast: Fall with the sunshine
On TV: none (UK); none (USA); Star Sports Select HD1 (India); Canal+ Sport 2, SuperSport4 (NGA); elsewhere
Streaming: NBC Gold (USA); HotStar (India); DStv Now (NGA)
Chelsea team news: The international break claimed N’Golo Kante and Andreas Christensen as its victims this time around, and they join Antonio Rudiger and Ruben Loftus-Cheek on the sidelines. Emerson will probably miss out again as well, although he’s very close to returning. Mateo Kovacic, Reece James, and Ross Barkley were also briefly on the list of injury concerns, but they should be available.
Despite the injuries, and the simmering narrative-bombs in playing time concerns for Christian Pulisic, Olivier Giroud, and Michy Batshuayi, Chelsea’s youth revolution is going quite swimmingly at the moment.
Newcastle United team news: Now sans-Rafa Benitez, Newcastle have continued to generate enough drama to fill multiple reality shows, with results to match. Their two wins have come against Spurs and Manchester United, both 1-0, while at the same time losing 5-0 to Leicester and 3-1 Norwich. No one knows which version will turn up Saturday.
The Magpies will be without winger Matt Ritchie and defender Florian Lejeune, both injured, while Isaac Hayden is suspended. Matty Longstaff, the homegrown goalscoring hero the United win will surely play. Former Chelsea loanee Christian Atsu is still around as well.
View from the enemy: Coming Home Newcastle
Previously: Pedro and Willian scored as Chelsea, with Eden Hazard at center forward (glad we don’t have to deal with that silliness anymore!), won 2-1 back in January.