Newcastle United's 2024/25 season has been quite underwhelming. Coming on the back of a disappointing 0-1 loss against Brighton, the Magpies club would want to turn things around as they take a trip to Stamford Bridge this weekend. While certainly Chelsea won't be an easy opponent for Newcastle either, they would want to grab the maximum points from the fixture, being winless in the last 4 PL games.
Veteran star misses but star forward back to top level as Newcastle faces Chelsea next
Similar to the last game, which saw critical injury updates, with star forward Isak returning back to the XI, the upcoming matchday against Chelsea also comes with crucial updates for Magpies players. Unfortunately for Newcastle, it seems they would want to line up once again without their veteran forward Callum Wilson. Although there were speculations of him returning for the Chelsea matchday, manager Eddie Howe's recent updates indicate his delayed return.
Reflecting upon the possibility of when Wilson would return, Howe mentioned,
""We are going to lose Callum for the next 3 games. He has had some tightness in his body—he hasn’t felt like he can kick on to that last part [of his recovery].""Eddie Howe
However, while certainly Wilson's delay is certainly very frustrating in the interest of club fans, there are some positive updates for the club as well. Although star forward Alexander Isak had played the full 90 minutes at St. James last weekend, clearly, the Swedish international seemed a bit far from his full fitness. But, recently, Eddie Howe, updating on his condition, stated he now feels close to 100%.
Speaking on Isak, Howe remarked,
"“He’s trained well this week. He’s another player that’s done a lot of work this week to get his fitness levels up to 100%.”"Eddie Howe
From Newcastle's perspective, this finds significantly in their favor given the goal scarce they have been facing recently. With one of the best PL forwards, Isak, back to his full fitness, the Magpies club might not be very far from scoring a lot of goals. Moreover, not to forget, the 25-year-old had scored both times against Chelsea last season, and if he can replicate such heroics at Stamford Bridge this time, Newcastle might be able to grab some handy points from the mighty matchday.