BT Sport pundit Michael Owen is expecting Chelsea to come out on top when they face Newcastle at St James’ Park this afternoon.
Owen was impressed that the Blues put seven past Norwich City last weekend, even without Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner, but he is expecting a tighter affair today:
“Chelsea have the league’s best defence and I can’t see Newcastle having enough to hurt them. I think Newcastle will try to keep things tight, but Chelsea will get the win here.”
Owen has gone with a 1-0 win to Thomas Tuchel’s side, which is a surprisingly conservative scoreline considering the match against the Canaries last weekend.
Newcastle are pretty rudderless without a permanent manager and they gave away plenty of chances despite drawing 1-1 with Crystal Palace in their last game.
With that in mind, Chelsea have to be heavy favourites for this one, even though they do have a fair few injury concerns heading into the match.
Of course, it won’t be as easy as the Norwich demolition, especially away from home, but you would back them to score more than one against the Magpies.