Newcastlevs.Chelsea

The Blues are no strangers to squaring off against the Magpies with the two teams having met at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League last weekend.

On that occasion, Enzo Maresca's side came through with a 2-1 victory, Nicolas Jackson and Cole Palmer netting either side of Alexander Isak's first-half equaliser.

There is now a five-point gap between the teams in the Premier League standings, yet that will matter little when they meet at St James' Park.

Maresca is expected to make widespread changes to the starting lineup from three days ago, potentially rotating his entire first XI with Sunday's trip to Manchester United in mind.

What streak can Chelsea extend?

Dating back to last season when Chelsea prevailed on penalties in their EFL Cup quarter-final tie, the West Londoners are on a run of three games without defeat against Newcastle in all competitions.

Nevertheless, Chelsea are in a position where they are bidding to extend their streak of victories in EFL Cup ties at St James' Park to three fixtures.

In 2004 and 2006 respectively, sides managed by Jose Mourinho ran out the victors on Tyneside, keeping a clean sheet on both occasions.

The first game saw Chelsea prevail by a 2-0 scoreline after extra time, Eidur Gudjohnsen and Arjen Robben netting the goals against a Newcastle side that started with an attack that featured Craig Bellamy, Patrick Kluivert and Alan Shearer.

Two years later, Didier Drogba's 79th-minute free kick proved to be the difference, the legendary Blues forward having replaced Andriy Shevchenko six minutes earlier.

Not all doom and gloom for Newcastle...

From Newcastle's perspective, Eddie Howe's side will be looking to record their third successive win over Chelsea in fixtures held at St James' Park.

Most notably, they ran out 4-1 victors in the last such fixture on November 25, with another success coming in January 2020 shortly before the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Newcastle also defeated Chelsea in a thrilling EFL Cup tie at Stamford Bridge back in 2011 as Nile Ranger, Steven Taylor and Shola Ameobi (twice) all got on the scoresheet in a 4-3 win, the decisive goal coming in the closing minutes.