Newcastle must contain Abraham and Mount if they want to win

Newcastle United’s primary focus against Chelsea must be on stopping Tammy Abraham and Mason Mount.

Newcastle United will be back in action this Saturday when they face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Steve Bruce’s side is coming off an impressive and much-needed victory against Manchester United, but Chelsea, despite being dependent on young talent this season, is off to a flying start and they will present the Magpies with a unique challenge.

The Toon Army are hoping for more goals from Newcastle United, but the primary focus of the squad should be containing two of Chelsea’s most dangerous attacking players: Tammy Abraham and Mason Mount. The young duo have exceeded expectations early on this season and they have already combined to score 12 goals. Abraham’s current tally is eight goals, which means he is averaging a goal per game.

Defensive Tactics for Chelsea Duo

The Magpies’ back-line will have their hands full with Abraham and Mount. The young duo is full of confidence as a result of their good run of form in the Top Flight and they were both recently called up to the English national team.

When it comes to Abraham, it’s difficult to predict where he will fire a shot from. So far this season he has scored from many different areas and has shown that he enjoys threatening keepers from distance. That being said, Fabian Schar and Jamaal Lascelles need to be confrontational on Saturday. In other words, as soon as the ball is aimed for Abraham, one of them need to rush out and not leave him any time and space to create a chance. In addition, the central defenders need to rotate and follow the ball.

Knowing when to give up on a play in order to let the other defender finish the job will be crucial, otherwise Chelsea could bury Newcastle United with goals if too many gaps are created. A perfect example of this mistake from the Magpies occurred a few weeks ago against Liverpool when Roberto Firmino flicked a back-heel pass to Mohamed Salah, who simply ran straight through a gap and scored with ease after being one-on-one with Martin Dubravka.

In my opinion, it will be more difficult for the Toon to slow down and contain Mount than it will be to limit Abraham’s impact on Saturday. Chelsea usually line up in a 4-3-3 formation and Mount has been used out wide just ahead of the back four. However, based on the goals he has scored this season, it’s fair to say that he is one of the most active wingers in the league. He hardly stays in position as he successfully cuts inside and gets into dangerous areas.

Obviously, the back-line should be ready to stop him if he breaks into the final third, but a mutual understanding between the Magpies’ wingers and central midfielders will be the key. Allan Saint-Maximin and Miguel Almiron, or Christian Atsu if he gets the nod over Almiron, can only do so much out wide. They can try to block him off from receiving passes and position themselves to force Mount to make a backwards pass or a meaningless horizontal pass, but once he cuts inside and goes for goal the Longstaff brothers, who are rumored to start together once again, will need to close Mount’s running lane immediately.

At the start of the season most pundits and neutral fans wrote Chelsea off because of their young squad, but these youngsters mean business and they are already off to a fine start this term. Newcastle United may be confident after defeating Manchester United before the international break, but Tammy Abraham and Mason Mount will present Steve Bruce’s side with a major challenge.