The Dugout Discussion – Newcastle vs Chelsea

The Gameweek attempts to start its engines with a frosty encounter, as Chelsea’s convincing title charge draws up to St James Park to tackle another potential north east banana skin.

Having faltered at Sunderland, Jose Mourinho’s men will be keen to dispatch Newcastle in their own backyard but will find a team recently revived under Alan Pardew. The Magpies have lost just one of their last eight and, like their Black Cats rivals, will be in no mood to roll over.

Fantasy managers will doubtless be looking to the returning Diego Costa for points, whilst hoping that Eden Hazard can break a barren run of away trips that have seen him gather just two assists on the road all season. At the back, Mourinho’s men have kept three consecutive shut-outs but, with Nemanja Matic suspended, the defensive shields are down.

The early kick-off will be followed by a batch of five afternoon encounters before it’s over to Man City to attempt to keep pace, as they take on Everton at the Etihad.

We will be right here soaking up the action and bringing you the teamsheet tittle-tattle via our Twitter feed.