Football Results

Two remaining matches of the fourth round of English FA Cup will be played on Sunday and in the first of them we have duel between two Premier League teams; reigning champion Chelsea, which currently occupies the third place in the Premiership table and returnee to the elite football league in England, Newcastle, that after 24 rounds is 15th in the table and has even 27 points fewer than the Blues. Let’s add that their head-to-head played in December last year had ended as Chelsea’s home victory 3-1.

Chelsea

Of course that all this put the team from London in role of great favourite to win this FA Cup match, especially as the match is going to take place at Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge. True, at the very same stadium Chelsea struggled in previous, third round with second-division Norwich and went further only thanks to more luck with penalty shootout. After the match coach Conte players won Brighton in the league 4-0 and again climb up at the third place in the Premier League table.

However, Chelsea lost last week the 2nd semi-final match in the League Cup to Arsenal 2-1, which means that the Gunners are finalist of the League Cup given that the 1st leg played at the Stamford Bridge had ended as goalless draw. Right because of that we are certain that now in the FA Cup Conte will rest most of his starters, while not fully recovered goalkeeper Courtois, midfielder Fabrebas and forwards Willian and Morate are questionable for this match.

Probable lineups Chelsea: Caballero – Rudiger, David Luiz, Cahill – Zappacosta, Drinkwater, Bakayoko, Alonso – Barkley, Batshuayi, Pedro

Newcastle

Newcastle expectedly lost away its last league match to leading Manchester City 3-1 and again has just one point more than teams in the drop zone. Before losing to the City the Magpies drew two times at home with direct competitors in the survival race, Brighton and Swansea, while on the other hand they won valuable victory away against Stoke 1-0.

In the same period Newcastle routinely did its job against lower-league Luton in the FA Cup, which was defeated by 3-1 at the Newcastle’s St. James Park, so in general experienced coach Benitez can be pleased with current form of his players, especially as his team is still positioned above the relegation zone. Ahead of Newcastle is series of difficult matches and consequently we expect many changes in its starting line-up for Sunday’s match, while due to injuries out of action are defenders Mbemba, Lejeune and Gamez, and forward Mitrovic.

Probable lineups Newcastle: Elliot – Yedlin, Lascelles, Clark, Haidara – Merino, Hayden – Ritchie, Perez, Murphy – Gayle

Verdict:

Regardless that will play without several key players the Blues from London are still regarded as great favourites to win this Cup match with Newcastle, especially as the visiting team is far more worried right now about its survival in the Premier League.

Pick:  Asian handicap -1 Chelsea 1.77 77/100 @1XBet