The break from Blues agony doesn’t last long though. They’re back in action on Monday night in a pretty fascinating encounter against Newcastle.
Both sides have been very up and down this season, although the Magpies have gained some stability recently, just as we’ve had a wobble.
Newcastle are 8th and look like their Champions League collapse really damaged their morale. Chelsea are even further back.
The Magpies have won two, lost two and drawn one of their last 4, but worryingly for us their last game was quite an impressive win over a tough Wolves team. A 3-0 victory is certainly better than our 4-2 defeat to Gary O’Neill’s side at the start of last month – or in fact our 2-1 defeat to them on Christmas Eve.
Our first game against Newcastle this season was back in November, where we were trounced 4-1 at St James’ Park. We expect to compete better at Stamford Bridge, where we’ve lost just once in normal time in our last 13 games in all competitions – that defeat to Wolves.
The full week of rest should mean we see a fresher team than the one which collapsed like a souffle in the second half against Brentford last weekend. But Eddie Howe is a wily coach and he will have his team super well prepared to take us on.
The home advantage can also be turned against us – there are chants against the ownership and Mauricio Pochettino almost every week now, and Howe will know that if he can just keep things tight and frustrate us at home, the fans won’t have much patience.
Expect Newcastle to keep things compact and tight in the first half, letting the tension build. Then they will look to strike in the second period, taking advantage of our worryingly regular drop-off after half times. At that point the crowd will be urging us forward if we haven’t yet scored, making the pace of Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon on the break a huge risk for us.
This could be a fascinating game – there’s no doubt it’s a big one.