Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe says Chelsea's off-field problems shouldn't affect their match at Stamford Bridge this afternoon.
The Blues’ world was turned upside down on Thursday when the UK Government decided to sanction Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich due to his close links to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is currently waging war in Ukraine.
As part of the sanctions, which has seen Abramovich’s assets frozen, Chelsea are no longer able to sell match tickets, negotiate player contracts, buy or sell players, sell anything in the club shop or spend more than £500,000 per fixture, per team when hosting games.
Thomas Tuchel’s side were left as surprised as most of the public when the news broke last week but the team still managed to pull off a 3-1 victory at Carrow Road to settle any nerves their off-field dramas would spill onto the pitch.
They entertain the Magpies at Stamford Bridge today and Howe - who has guided his Newcastle side ten points clear of the relegation zone with a midweek win over Southampton - says it’ll be business as usual.
“I can only answer in terms of the football, and I don’t think it will have any bearing on Chelsea and how they play,” he told reporters. “For us, it can’t change our preparation in any way.
“I’ve been watching Chelsea historically, and I’ll be trying to build a game plan to go there and win. I don’t expect anything on the pitch to be any different really. In terms of the wider impact, it’s difficult to know. Any comment I give on that would be a guess, so it’s pointless me doing that. I’ll not really get into that.”
Today’s fixture is Newcastle’s third in seven days and Howe will need to keep his squad rotation up in order to keep things fresh.
Brazilian Joelinton was not involved in the win at St Mary’s in midweek but could be involved in west London following a groin injury.
“Everyone in our squad is in contention to play,” added Howe. “We’ll let the dust settle from the Southampton game and see how we are physically.
“There were some very tired bodies in the changing room, and a bit of cramp with a couple of players as well.
“We’re going to have to be physically good against Chelsea, so we might have to rotate.”
Chelsea meanwhile could be without as many as six first-team players for the clash with the Geordies.
Reece James has muscular problems in his leg after making his first start in over two months in the win over Burnley last Saturday.
Marcus Alonso has also been out recently after contracting Covid-19 while both Christian Pulisic and Cesar Azpilicueta are recovering from illnesses also.
