Newcastle United vs Chelsea

Both Newcastle United and Chelsea are level in the Premier League table with one eye on their championship clash at St James’ Park this Sunday.

With Champions League qualification on the line, Newcastle United, who are fourth, face an ever improving Chelsea side under Enzo Maresca, whose team have won three Champions League matches in a row recently, equaling their previous best run of the 2024-25 campaign after five successive wins in November and December.

In a race for the top five, Newcastle and Chelsea are to meet this weekend in a battle for momentum and knocking one another off Champions League aspirations.

Coming into their second last home game, the Magpies sit fourth on 63 points, level with this weekend’s opponents, but a positioning change is still possible.

As Arsenal, which is a league-milestone second now, turns attention away from domestic contest to the Champions League, Newcastle lags behind Mikel Arteta’s team by four points, with the Gunners having to call at Liverpool this weekend and play against Eddie Howe’s team next week.

Although Arsenal is on 67 points, and so is Manchester City, Newcastle has the glaring possibility of going down in the league table with Chelsea (63), Nottingham Forest (61), and Aston Villa (60) all benchmarking closely behind.

However, Newcastle may fall out of the top five this weekend with fear of their latest loss at Aston Villa and draw at Brighton still in mind. However, the club is in high spirits as they look forward to playing Chelsea on Sunday.

After a shaky post-Christmas spell saw them fall from title contention to nervously eyeing the top-four race, Chelsea have rediscovered their form with a three-game Premier League winning streak. The run was capped by a convincing 3-1 victory over a rotated and unmotivated Liverpool side in Gameweek 35, with Cole Palmer shining once again.

This recent league streak is part of a broader resurgence—the Blues are now on their longest winning run since a five-game stretch between November and December, when they defeated Leicester (2-1), Aston Villa (3-0), Southampton (5-1), Tottenham (4-3), and Brentford (2-1). Including their European fixtures, they’ve now won five straight across all competitions.

The turnaround began with a dramatic comeback at Fulham on April 20. After Tyrique George’s 83rd-minute equalizer, Pedro Neto struck deep in stoppage time to secure Chelsea’s first away league win since December 8. Prior to this, they had endured an eight-game winless run on the road, suffering five defeats and failing to score in five matches.

With momentum now on their side, manager Enzo Maresca will be desperate to secure back-to-back away wins for the first time in five months. After two seasons outside Europe’s elite competition, Chelsea’s Champions League dreams hinge on maintaining this form—and ensuring they don’t slip out of the top four.