Bogey St James’ Park test lies in wait for Chelsea against Newcastle United

Newcastle United and Chelsea kick off round 17 of the 2025-26 Premier League season with a clash at St James’ Park on Saturday.

Both teams enjoyed League Cup success in midweek as Newcastle saw off Fulham to book a place in the last four, while Chelsea edged out Cardiff City.

Off the back of a disappointing 1-0 defeat to rivals Sunderland in the Tyne–Wear derby, Newcastle got back to winning ways in Wednesday’s cup clash against Fulham.

With extra time looming, Lewis Miley grabbed the winner in second-half stoppage time after Sasa Lukic had cancelled out Yoane Wissa’s opener.

Consequently, the Magpies’ unbeaten home run now stands at nine matches, eight of which have ended in victory since September’s 2-1 defeat to Arsenal.

Going up against an opposing outfit currently eight places and six points above them in the Premier League table, Newcastle will be bracing themselves up for a tough assignment this weekend.

However, Saturday’s hosts have beaten the visitors in four straight home matches across all competitions by a combined score of 9-1.

They should be confident of securing maximum points from their final home assignment of 2025.

Recent trips to Tyneside have been an unhappy experience for Chelsea.

However, consecutive wins over Everton and Cardiff should hand the Blues some optimism ahead of their upcoming visit to the north east.

The Blues have the second-best record of any Premier League team on the road with 14 points, only behind Crystal Palace’s tally of 16.

After opening the scoring in eight of their last 10 matches, Chelsea and Newcastle have developed a knack for starting games as they mean to go on.

Breaking the deadlock will be a huge priority for the teams this weekend.