How Chelsea could line up against Newcastle United

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel still has several doubts to work around for Saturday's Premier League trip to Newcastle United.

The Blues are expected to make do without Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner once again, while Christian Pulisic remains out after a recent setback in his recovery from an ankle problem.

However, the Chelsea boss is hopeful of having Cesar Azpilicueta, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, N'Golo Kante and Andreas Christensen available this weekend, but it remains to be seen which of them will be deemed ready to start.

Azpilicueta could be one of those as he returns to the defence alongside Thiago Silva and Antonio Rudiger, with Trevoh Chalobah - who played the full 90 in midweek - making way.

Reece James and Ben Chilwell both bagged goals in last weekend's thrashing of Norwich City and are set to reprise their roles here, while Mateo Kovacic's masterclass against Norwich will not see him keep his place after he picked up a hamstring injury in training, so either Kante or Loftus-Cheek could be thrown straight back into the first XI here.

With no Lukaku or Werner ready to lead the line, Kai Havertz ought to keep his spot in attack alongside last weekend's hat-trick hero Mason Mount and Callum Hudson-Odoi.

Chelsea possible starting lineup: Mendy; Azpilicueta, Rudiger, Silva; James, Jorginho, Kante, Chilwell; Mount, Hudson-Odoi; Havertz