Chelsea travel to St. James' Park for the Premier League's early kickoff on Saturday afternoon. You can follow all the updates from the match, as they happen, in our live blog bloew.
Enzo Maresca was relieved by Chelsea's midweek win in the Carabao Cup, when they beat Cardiff City 3-1 to qualify for the semifinals, where they will face either Crystal Palace or Arsenal. Newcastle also won in the Carabao Cup in midweek, as they eliminated Fulham to come back well from last weekend's difficult derby loss to Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.
In that game, Nick Woltemade's own goal proved to be the difference between the two sides. Newcastle, however, would be even more concerned by how little they created in terms of tangible attacking opportunities. They will have to improve on that front against a Chelsea side, who will be buoyed by Cole Palmer's return to the starting XI.
Palmer played well against Everton last weekend, and even opened the scoring, as Chelsea won 2-0 at Stamford Bridge. With that win and the one against Cardiff, Maresca's side have built some momentum into their season again, but will be under no illusions about the difficulty of a Premier League trip to St. James' Park, particularly against a Newcastle side who are determined to prove a point after last week's derby loss.