Newcastle United will go head to head with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday evening hoping to put an end to their five-match winless run across all competitions. The Magpies have shown some positive sides to their game in recent weeks, but it simply hasn’t transformed into results on the pitch. Hence, Rafael Benitez needs to find a way to stop the Pensioners from playing their natural game and hope that his side can create some chances going forward.
The Spanish manager might choose to go for a 3-4-2-1 formation for this match against the Blues of London so it would be exciting to see how things play out between the two sides this weekend.
3-4-2-1 Newcastle United Predicted Lineup To Face Chelsea
Defence
Martin Dúbravka will lineup in goal for the Magpies once again after shipping in 7 goals in his last three starts in the Premier League. Benitez might opt for a back three of Fabian Schar, Jamaal Lascelles and Paul Dummett for this weekend’s clash at Stamford Bridge. However, the away side will be sweating on the fitness of Federico Fernandez who is a significant doubt for this league encounter.
The Magpies have struggled to keep the opposition attackers at bay over the past couple of weeks which would be a cause for concern as Benitez looks to avoid getting his side dragged into a relegation dogfight in the second half of this campaign. The Magpies have shown in the past that they can match up with anyone as long as they keep their shape and follow their manager’s tactics to the T. So their defenders will need to perform at their best if they are to stop Eden Hazard and Willian from scoring this weekend.
Midfield
Mohamed Diamé and Isacc Hayden might be deployed at the centre of the park as the Tyneside outfit looks to fight for every loose ball in midfield and stop the Chelsea players from dominating possession. Matt Ritchie will act as a facilitator on the left flank while DeAndre Yedlin looks to use his pace on the other side of the midfield.
Attack
Both Christian Atsu and Ayoze Perez might operate as two free-flowing attackers behind Salomon Rondon, who would spearhead Benitez’s attack up top. Rondon managed to score against Watford a few weeks ago so he would be Newcastle’s biggest threat on the attacking end of the pitch.
