Mark Lawrenson is backing us to get a draw against Chelsea on Sunday. The BBC pundit says we haven’t had the rub of the green this season despite picking up just one point from our opening two games.
Making his Premier League predictions for the weekend, Lawro went with a 1-1 draw and said:
“Newcastle have been unlucky this season. They got nothing from a good performance against Tottenham and should have beaten Cardiff when down to 10 men, with Kenedy missing an injury-time penalty.”
“Rafael Benitez is very successful at setting his team up to be difficult to beat at home to the Premier League superpowers.”
It’s going to be a tightly fought contest I think. Rafa will keep things tight early on as he always does against the top six sides, but Maurizio Sarri’s team are vulnerable on the counter-attack.
The Blues will likely have the majority of possession at St James’ Park and it will be up to us to make the most of things when we win back the ball.
The centre-back pairing of David Luiz and Antonio Rudiger can be got at, and if we can pull them out to the channels, and get in around the sides of them, we should be able to create a chance or two.
We obviously can’t ignore the threat that Chelsea pose though, and Eden Hazard is highly likely to start his first game of the season. If we are to get a result, we have to keep him quiet.