Chelsea will face 10th placed Newcastle United away from home on Sunday. Manchester United will go into the match against Blackburn knowing a win will take them to the top of the English Premier League if Chelsea fails to gain all three points
in their fixture.
Chelsea has lost its last two premier league games against Sunderland and Birmingham City. This is the first time in almost four and a half years that Chelsea has lost 2 back to back games. The Blues were cruising at the top of the Barclays Premier League
for most part of the current season. Three defeats in their last 4 matches however have let their rivals catch up and the Blues now stand level on 28 points with Manchester United.
United will be hoping Chelsea’s poor run of form continues at St. James’ Park. United are yet to lose a match in the premier league this season and will be hoping to win their match against Blackburn Rovers. The Reds will be boosted by the performance of
Wayne Rooney in the Champions League match against Rangers. Rooney, who scored the only goal of the match from the spot kick, looked much fitter and earned the praise of his manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
Ferguson insisted Rooney still hasn’t reached the top of his game but he will get back in form soon. He said,
“It took courage for Wayne Rooney to take the penalty; it wasn't the easiest night for him having missed a couple of chances. There's still some rustiness in his game.”
Chelsea will go into their away match under pressure despite a 2-1 win in their Champions League match. Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti expressed his disappointment after the match in which Chelsea played a poor first half. After the match he said,
“If we play like we did in the first half, it's impossible to win the Champions League. If we play like we did in the second then we'll have a chance.”
Chelsea will have a tough time against a Newcastle side that has performed reasonably well after their return to top flight football.
Newcastle is currently placed 10th on the table and are coming after a heavy 5-1 defeat against Bolton. Newcastle has already defeated Chelsea once this season in the Carling Cup in a thrilling match that ended with a score line of 4-3. The cup
win came when Chelsea were at the top of their game so Newcastle will be confident they have every chance of winning the game.
Chelsea spent their week amidst rumours that there Italian manager will be sacked. The speculation began after it was reported the Blues manager is dissatisfied with the mishandling of Ray Wilkins exit. It was also reported that Ancelotti had a meeting with
the League Managers’ Association over the incident.
The defeat at the hands of Birmingham gave speculators more to talk about but Ancelotti denied he is leaving the club. The Italian put an end to all assumptions saying,
“These rumours are totally untrue. I have my contract until 2012, here, in this club. I've said a lot of times that I'd like to stay here. I didn't speak with the LMA. I don't know why they came out.”
With the confirmation that there inspirational manager is set to stay at the club, Chelsea players will go all out against a Newcastle side which has the ability to upset any team on their day.
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