Chelsea trio to return for Newcastle United match

Chelsea head coach Thomas Tuchel has revealed that Cesar Azpilicueta, N'Golo Kante and Ruben Loftus-Cheek are all back in contention for the trip to Newcastle United.

The trio were all absent for the EFL Cup fourth round tie with Southampton on Tuesday night, with Tuchel acknowledging that Azpilcueta and Loftus-Cheek had been in line to feature in his squad before last-minute injuries.

However, despite revealing that Christian Pulisic, Timo Werner and Romelu Lukaku would remain on the sidelines, Tuchel spoke positively about the other three players being available for the game at St James' Park.

At his pre-match press conference, Tuchel told reporters: "We have some better news than ahead of the Southampton game. Timo and Romelu are still out because of their injuries. Christian Pulisic did join training the last two sessions but it is still too early given the time that he missed.

"Everybody else is available. Azpi and Ruben are back on the pitch, and G (Kante) is back on the pitch. They are back with the team tomorrow and ready to play."

Tuchel added that Mateo Kovacic would be sidelined for a number of weeks with a hamstring injury.