Good evening and welcome to our live blog of the Monday evening football match between Chelsea and Newcastle United. Chelsea sit in 11th place, with 36 points from 26 games, and their visitors this evening travel down from the North East on 40 points, one place ahead of the Blues, albeit that Newcastle have played a game more. A lot of dosh to finish mid-table, you might well say, and both of these managers are no doubt fully aware that a failure to deliver European football might well mean the old P45.
My brilliant colleagues Matt Law and Luke Edwards know all there is to be knowed about Chelsea and Newcastle respectively and a quick look at the stories they’ve done recently give you a snapshot of how money and off-pitch issues seem to be perennial preoccupations with these two sides.
And here’s Luke: Newcastle’s £28m man Lewis Hall never plays – and that is a concern for Chelsea
And how about this, from our chums on the business desk?
“An Instagram influencer who had become close to the head of Saudi Arabia’s £500bn sovereign wealth fund received a multimillion-pound fee from the takeover of Newcastle United despite not playing “any substantive role”, it has been alleged. Carla DiBello, a former reality television producer with connections among Arab elites, was paid at least £2m by the financier Amanda Staveley to secure the purchase of the club by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), according to High Court documents.”
All a far cry from Wor Jackie etc, isn’t it? Instagram influencer ‘paid more than £2m’ in Saudi Newcastle takeover
Anyway, no matter how much money they’ve got, it’s still 11 against 11 when they cross the white line shortly before 8pm. We will have the team news at around 7pm and then the kick off is at 8pm.
Chelsea have an exceptional home record against the Mags: in 28 Premier League matches at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea are W20, D7, L1. That L was all the way back in 2012. And Newcastle’s away form has collapsed, they have lost six out of their last eight on the road. Only hapless Sheffield United have a leakier defence away from home than Newcastle, who have played ten away games in a row without a clean sheet.