Premier League match previews, team news, stats, predictions, kick-off time and how to follow | Football News

March 9, 2022 admin

Team news, stats, predictions and how to follow the Premier League on Thursday as Chelsea travel to Norwich while Leeds take on Aston Villa.

Norwich vs Chelsea – Thursday, 7.30pm

Team news: Norwich will be without on-loan Blues midfielder Billy Gilmour for the Premier League visit of Chelsea.

The Scotland international is ineligible for the fixture against his parent club, so Lukas Rupp, who missed Saturday’s home defeat by Brentford with fatigue, should come back into the squad.

Full-back Max Aarons, who started on the bench because of a minor knock, is in contention to start, but forward Adam Idah (knee) and defender Andrew Omobamidele (back) continue their own rehabilitation.

Reece James will miss out for Chelsea after picking up a new muscular leg strain in the 4-0 win at Burnley last weekend.

The England wing-back had only just recovered from long-term hamstring trouble, but this new issue is unrelated.

Callum Hudson-Odoi can return after a minor Achilles issue.

Opta stats

Norwich are winless in their last 13 Premier League meetings with Chelsea (D2 L11) since a 3-0 home win in December 1994 under John Deehan.
Chelsea have won their last five Premier League games against Norwich, winning 7-0 in the reverse fixture back in October. There have been three occasions of the Blues netting 10 goals against an opponent in a single Premier League campaign – Wolves in 2003-04, Sunderland in 2009-10 and Aston Villa in 2012-13.
Norwich are without a win in their last eight matches against reigning European champions (D1 L7), losing the last six in a row by an aggregate score of 21-2 – their last such win came at home to Aston Villa in October 1982 (1-0).
Chelsea have won their last three Premier League games by an aggregate score of 7-0. They’ve not won four in a row without conceding in the competition since December 2016 under Antonio Conte.

How to follow: Follow the game across Sky Sports’ digital platforms in our dedicated live blog. Highlights will be published on the Sky Sports digital platforms and the Sky Sports Football YouTube channel shortly after the final whistle.

Southampton vs Newcastle – Thursday, 7.30pm

Team news: Southampton hope to welcome back Mohammed Salisu against Newcastle on Thursday.

The Ghanaian centre-back missed Saturday’s 4-0 defeat at Aston Villa with a hamstring injury.

The Saints have no new injury concerns, but Lyanco and Alex McCarthy remain sidelined, while the game has come too soon for Nathan Tella as the winger builds up fitness following two months out with groin trouble.

Newcastle striker Allan Saint-Maximin is being eased back to full fitness after recovering from a calf injury.

The Frenchman was used as a second-half substitute in Saturday’s 2-1 win over Brighton after just one day’s training and will hope to be involved further at St Mary’s.

Midfielder Matt Ritchie is closing in on a return from a knee problem and central defender Federico Fernandez is working his way back from a side strain, but full-backs Kieran Tripper (fractured metatarsal) and Jamal Lewis (groin), midfielder Isaac Hayden (knee) and striker Callum Wilson (calf) are still out.

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Newcastle have lost just one of their last nine league games against Southampton (W5 D3), though that defeat did come in this exact fixture last season (0-2).
Newcastle United have earned seven points in three away Premier League games in 2022 (W2 D1), four more than they managed in nine away matches in 2021 during the current season (D3 L6).
Southampton are unbeaten in 10 home Premier League matches (W5 D5), only twice previously having longer home unbeaten runs in the competition: 13 between May 2002 and January 2003 and 12 between October 2004 and March 2005.
Newcastle are one of just two sides (along with Liverpool) without a Premier League defeat so far in 2022 (W5 D2), while only the current top two of Manchester City (19) and Liverpool (22) have earned more points this year than the Magpies (17).
Southampton have won their last four home games in all competitions, last winning five consecutively at St Mary’s back in October 2016 under Claude Puel. Current boss Ralph Hasenhüttl last registered five consecutive home wins between September 2016 and January 2017 as RB Leipzig manager (seven in a row).

Wolves vs Watford – Thursday, 7.30pm

Team news: Ki-Jana Hoever has joined Nelson Semedo on the Wolves treatment table ahead of the visit of Watford.

Hoever was brought into the side last weekend to face Crystal Palace after it was confirmed fellow right-back Nelson Semedo would be sidelined for a month with a hamstring injury, but the young Dutchman lasted just 25 minutes before being substituted.

A hamstring strain means Hoever will miss out against the Hornets, although Wolves boss Bruno Lage has no other injury concerns.

Watford will give a late fitness test to forward Joshua King after he missed the narrow loss to Arsenal as a precaution.

William Troost-Ekong is back in full training but could miss out as he recovers from a groin injury.

Jeremy Ngakia, Nicolas Nkoulou and Ismaila Sarr all have hamstring issues and the trio will miss the trip to Molineux.

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Wolves are looking to complete the league double over Watford for just the third time, previously doing so in the second tier in both 1991-92 and 2008-09.
Since a run in which they conceded in 17 consecutive away Premier League matches between January 2020 and January 2022, Watford have kept three clean sheets in four away games under manager Roy Hodgson, conceding just once. If they keep a clean sheet in this game, it would be only the ninth instance of a team shipping one goal in their first five away Premier League games under a manager.
63 per cent of Watford’s Premier League points this season have come away from home (12/19), the highest such share in the division this term. Indeed, the Hornets have lost just one of their last five on the road in the top-flight (W1 D3), having lost 12 of 14 before this run.
Wolves have conceded six goals in their last four Premier League games, having shipped just five times in their previous 12 in the competition. Wolves were 2-0 behind at half-time against Crystal Palace last time out, having conceded just twice in the first half of their previous 19 Premier League games combined.
Wolves have scored a higher share of their Premier League goals from outside the box than any other side in the competition this season (25 per cent – 6/24). Meanwhile, Watford are the only side yet to score from outside the box in the Premier League this term.

Leeds vs Aston Villa – Thursday, 7.45pm

Team news: Leeds striker Patrick Bamford will return to action after a three-month injury lay-off in the home game against Aston Villa.

Bamford has been sidelined with a foot injury since December and head coach Jesse Marsch confirmed the striker will appear off the substitutes’ bench.

Diego Llorente is back in contention after a muscle strain, but Tyler Roberts (hamstring) has been ruled out for the rest of the season following surgery. Kalvin Phillips and skipper Liam Cooper (both hamstring) remain sidelined.

Aston Villa boss Steven Gerrard faces a welcome selection dilemma as his side look to claim their third straight Premier League win at Elland Road.

Lucas Digne and Ezri Konsa are both available after missing the 4-0 win over Southampton following positive coronavirus tests, while midfielder Carney Chukwuemeka is also named in the squad after injury.

Gerrard’s only current absentee remains Marvelous Nakamba, who is nudging closer to a return after overcoming his recent knee injury.

Opta stats

Leeds have won just one of their last nine Premier League home games against Aston Villa (D5 L3), having won three in a row against them at Elland Road before this.
Leeds have lost their last three home league matches, last losing four in a row at Elland Road in September and October 2015 in the Championship. In the Premier League, they last had a longer losing run at home between September and December 2002 under Terry Venables (five in a row).
Leeds have conceded four goals in each of their last two home league games, a 4-2 defeat to Man Utd and 4-0 defeat to Spurs – the Whites last shipped 4+ goals in three consecutive home league games back in September/October 1960 in the second tier. The only two Premier League teams to ship 4+ goals in three home games in a row are Derby County (April/May 2008) and West Brom (Dec 2020/Jan 2021).
This is Jesse Marsch’s first home league game as Leeds United manager – he has won his first home league match at his previous three clubs, netting four goals in each of the previous two (4-1 vs SV Mattersburg with Red Bull Salzburg in 2019 and 4-0 with RB Leipzig vs VfB Stuttgart in 2021).

How the table stands

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