Thegoalmac can reveal that Chelsea will be without Nemanja Matic for Saturday's trip to Newcastle United but Diego Costa is set to return from suspension.
The
Spain international, who has scored 11 Premier League goals this
season, missed Wednesday’s 3-0 win over Tottenham due to a one-game ban
for five cautions. Matic, meanwhile, picked up his fifth booking of the
campaign in the victory against Spurs and will now miss the trip to St
James’ Park.
Jose Mourinho is likely to have Gary Cahill
available after the centre-back was substituted at half-time at Stamford
Bridge on Wednesday evening, with the Chelsea manager confirming the
England international had not suffered concussion following a challenge
with Jan Vertonghen.
Chelsea remain six points clear of
Manchester City at the top of the Premier League, while Newcastle sit
ninth following a 1-1 draw with Burnley on Tuesday.
Mourinho has
never won a game at St James’ Park, and in the corresponding fixture
last season, Newcastle ran out 2-0 winners thanks to goals from Yoan
Gouffran and Loic Remy.
Newcastle approach the fixture on a run
of just one defeat in their last nine matches in all competitions and
Pardew believes his players can find weaknesses in an unbeaten Chelsea
team.
"Mentally we are in a strong position and our confidence is
high. We have good spirit and are learning lessons along the way," said
the Newcastle manager.
"We need to threaten Chelsea because they look terrific. They are a great team who are strong and organised.
"Somewhere along the line Chelsea will slip up, and hopefully we can exploit any weaknesses they have."
But
Newcastle's hopes of becoming the first team to beat Chelsea this term
could be derailed by an injury crisis that has shown little sign of
easing.
Fabricio Coloccini is still struggling for fitness after
missing the last two games with a calf problem, while goalkeeper Tim
Krul remains out with an ankle complaint and winger Rolando Aarons is a
doubt due to a hamstring issue.
Ryan Taylor (knee) is sidelined,
along with long-term absentees Gabriel Obertan and Siem de Jong (both
thigh), as well as Davide Santon (knee).

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