Chelsea will travel to Newcastle United on Saturday, hoping to remain at the top of the Premier League table.
The Blues have won four consecutive games after the international break and head into the weekend’s fixture off the back of a penalty shootout victory over Southampton in the round of 16 of the EFL Cup.
Thomas Tuchel, barring the 1-0 home defeat to Manchester City, will be delighted with how his side have performed so far as the Pensioners head to Tyneside as overwhelming favourites.
Chelsea Team News
Chelsea have received a quadruple injury boost ahead of the Newcastle game as Andreas Christensen, N’Golo Kante, Cesar Azpilicueta and Christian Pulisic were all pictured in training on Thursday.
Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner remain sidelined with ankle and hamstring injuries and there’s no timescale available for their return.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek didn’t feature against Southampton in the midweek EFL Cup fixture due to a hip complaint and missed Thursday’s training, but could take part on Friday morning.
Predicted Chelsea Lineup vs Newcastle United (3-4-2-1)
Goalkeeper
Edouard Mendy has been a reliable pair of hands in goal for the Blues and will definitely start against Newcastle.
Defence
Antonio Rudiger and Thiago Silva got well-deserved breaks in midweek, so the duo will return to the Chelsea lineup. Trevoh Chalobah has performed really well in what looks to be his breakthrough campaign at Stamford Bridge and will complete Chelsea’s three-man backline.
Reece James offers a lot of attacking threat down the right, whilst being defensively sound. He will start at right wing-back. Ben Chilwell is in hot goal-scoring form of late and simply cannot be left out, meaning the Englishman will keep his place at left wing-back in the Chelsea lineup.
Predicted Chelsea Lineup vs Newcastle United
Midfield
Jorginho was an unused substitute in the midweek victory over Southampton, so he’ll be fresh to start in midfield at Newcastle. With Kante only likely to be fit to start on the bench and Loftus-Cheek doubtful, Mateo Kovacic becomes the automatic choice to partner Jorginho in Chelsea’s engine room.
Jorginho and Kovacic were superb in the Blues’ 7-0 thrashing of Norwich City last weekend and will look to repeat a similar kind of display in midfield against Newcastle.
Attack
Confidence should be bursting through Mason Mount’s veins after scoring a hat-trick in the big home win over Norwich City. He’s a certainty to start in attack along with Callum Hudson-Odoi, who was impressive against Norwich and essayed his role as a makeshift right wing-back very well in Chelsea’s Carabao Cup win over Southampton on Tuesday.
With Werner and Lukaku out injured, Tuchel will likely stick with Kai Havertz to lead the Blues attack at St James’ Park.