For all intents and purposes, Newcastle United have made a good start to the season in both League and Cup yet had to endure a long international break on the back of a 2-0 defeat against Southampton during which they were comprehensively outplayed.

A vibrant and energetic Saints side pressed and hassled their Geordie visitors into two big, game-changing mistakes that led to the two goals and a big improvement is needed in order to get results against Chelsea at St. James' Park on Saturday and beyond.

Steve Bruce's Magpies side currently lie 13th in The Premier League table just 4 points behind big-spending Chelsea in 5th place on 15 points and on balance can be looking up the table not down after impressive wins over West Ham, Burnley and Everton and securing excellent points away at Tottenham Hotspur and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Yet in this topsy-turvy season more than any other, it is consistency that will decide a team's fortunes throughout and final Premier League standing as there is a premium on time between games especially for those players involved in international duty with their countries and the rotation of squads will be paramount as the season progresses.

Injuries have been a big feature already of the 2020/21 campaign with high-profile players like Virgil Van Dyke missing the rest of the season for Liverpool & many teams suffering more injuries than normal due to the overloaded match schedule especially for teams like Chelsea in The Champions League with squads full of international players causing England manager Gareth Southgate to call on Premier League to restore the five substitutes ruling that allowed clubs to use more of their squad in Project Restart:

Five subs were introduced this week in The EFL, a move largely welcomed although its unlikely to be brought into The Premier League while a majority of 10 clubs must vote for its implementation & only those in Europe would benefit from it being able to utilise their vastly superior players & squad depth to win matches.

One outspoken critic of it was Newcastle's former manager Rafa Benitez, who wrote a typically detailed blog on why the extra substitutes aren't necessary if the correct training methods & squad rotation are employed, as he has throughout his career to ensure injury prevention & player freshness over a season:

Benitez was linked with a move back to Newcastle last night as rumours spread that the Saudi Arabian-backed consortium that attempted to buy the club in the summer are waiting in the wings if Mike Ashley's legal action is successful:

Fortunately, current Newcastle Head Coach Steve Bruce isn't on social media so will be fully focussed on the match on Saturday afternoon at 12.30pm against Chelsea and coming off the back of an international break when Chelsea's multi-national stars have been flying all over the world representing England, Germany, Brazil, France et. al., it could be a good time to play them and catch them on the hop.

Lampard spoke of the challenge presented by an international break yesterday confirming some of his internationals won't make it:

"Christian Pulisic is not fit for Newcastle but has stepped up his training slowly. It's been quite a problematic injury so we will stay cautious.
"Thiago Silva has just landed, he just messaged me this afternoon, so he probably won't go to Newcastle because of the length of the journey and timings.
"We are still waiting on some results from the tests that we now have to do now the players have arrived back from their internationals. Unfortunately some are arriving back this afternoon, some played last night, so with the 12.30pm kick off on Saturday, this clearly brings a lot of challenges for us."

Its the same issue Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solksjaer complained about when his Red Devils side had to play Everton at Goodison Park a few weeks ago yet the Premier League schedule and 3 substitutes rule help level keep the playing field level as I pointed out on Twitter recently: (Follow me @FootiePassion)

Chelsea's new German international striker Timo Werner, for example, has already played 18 matches for club and country in the last 2 months scoring 12 goals although like most of his compatriots, he was an anonymous passenger in Germany's 6-0 thrashing at the hands of Spain which equalled their second worst ever defeat.

Newcastle have not been unaffected by a hectic schedule of their own in both Premier League & Carabao Cup which meant The Magpies played 11 games from September 12th to November 6th and both new attacking signings from Bournemouth, Callum Wilson and Ryan Fraser had suffered hamstring injuries before the international break.

Injuries as well to the likes of Martin Dubravka, JonJo Shelvey, Matt Ritchie and Dwight Gayle for weeks or months at time means Bruce has rarely had a full squad of players to choose from and will have to manage his squad carefully and that means resting key players at times to ensure they remain fit and fresh throughout the campaign.

Jeff Hendrick is almost certainly due a rest after playing 14 games for club and country in just 2 months this season and was sent off in the final minute of Ireland's game against Wales, no doubt the result of burnout from too many matches & travelling.

Meanwhile, Newcastle have Isaac Hayden, last year's goal-scoring winner at St. James' Park against Chelsea to come back into the side and he'll be raring to go after an enforced rest of sorts after going off against Man United with an injury of his own although he has been busy off-the-field as well supporting The NUFC Fans' FoodBank, dropping 100 advent calendars off and signed shirts for some generous child fans:

Speaking to Newcastle United TV, Hayden cited 'Togetherness and sticking to the game-plan' as being the key to getting a result from the Chelsea match on Saturday and 'getting on the ball more and causing them a few more problems'.

Expanding on that winning goal, which was THE last goal and win that Newcastle fans saw live at St. James' Park before Covid-19 restrictions as the 1-0 win over Chelsea was followed by three goalless draws before lockdown stopped the season, Hayden added:

"Those are the moments as a professional football player that you live for - scoring at The Gallowgate End in the 94th minute against a team like Chelsea...Night games have a special feeling and it was a very loud noise when that went in and the night and it was definitely a feeling you don't forget and want to reproduce over and over again."

Hayden's return along with the potential inclusion of players who haven't featured in the starting line-up recently like Joelinton, Ciaran Clark and Matt Ritchie plus JonJo Shelvey who was featured in a training gallery for the first time since his operation, will undoubtedly strengthen The Magpies ahead of one of their toughest tests of the season.

Prediction - Newcastle 2 Chelsea 1 - Lightning and Hayden Strike Twice. HWTL