Chelsea face Newcastle United in the Premier League on Monday and the Blues will surely have one eye on their Champions League encounter next week.
The Blues take on Atletico Madrid in the UCL on the 23rd of February, and before that, they have another Premier League game vs Southampton. And many believe these key games could force Thomas Tuchel to make a few changes to his starting line-up this Monday since the Magpies are not one of the strongest sides in the league.
Tuchel could rest some of his heavyweight players on Monday and some experts believe this will be the perfect opportunity for Steve Bruce’s side to pick up three points at the Bridge.
But according to pundit Michael Owen, the momentum is with Chelsea right now and that combined with the superior squad quality should be more than enough to ensure that Tuchel picks up yet another win as the new Chelsea boss.
He wrote for BetVictor: “Chelsea have hit a nice run of form under new manager Thomas Tuchel. The German certainly seems to have had the desired effect with the players now noticeably more organised, especially at the back.
“Newcastle have had a few good results of late. This will have come as such a welcome sight to the Geordie faithful after such a worrying run of form at the start of the year.
“I think this one will be tough for the visitors. Chelsea have their tails up and seem to be extremely focused on securing Champions League football next season. I think they’ll have too much and can see them running out comfortable winners.”
Yes, Chelsea have a tough round of fixtures coming up but in midweek they had faced Barnsley in the FA Cup and in that game, Tuchel rested most of his first-team players.
So, players like Reece James, Rudiger and Mason Mount are well rested and will definitely feature against Newcastle United on Monday.
Also, the Chelsea boss will not want to take this week’s game lightly since Liverpool have lost 3-1 to Leicester City on Saturday so if the Blues pick up a win against the Magpies on Monday then they enter the top-four of the league table.
