Chelsea v Newcastle United team news 'tease' as £20m pictured on club website

Chelsea could welcome back Carney Chukwuemeka for tonight's Premier League clash against Newcastle United at Stamford Bridge (kick-off 8pm).

The 20-year-old, who arrived from Aston Villa for £20million in 2022, has been restricted to just seven appearances this season with his last start coming all the way back in August when he picked up a knee injury in a 3-1 defeat at West Ham United.

That kept Chukwuemeka sidelined for four months before returning at the beginning of January. However, an ankle injury saw him quickly return to the treatment room for four weeks.

But the midfielder could be in contention for the visit of Newcastle this evening after being captured in training, with photos published on Chelsea's official website.

Although Chukwuemeka could return, the Blues remain without several key players, including Levi Colwill and Ben Chilwell.

The defensive duo started the 2-2 draw away to Brentford last time out. Chilwell is out with a hamstring injury while Colwill is beginning a rehabilitation programme on a toe problem. That could see Marc Cucurella recalled at left-back.

Meanwhile, Conor Gallagher is a major doubt having missed the whole of last week through illness.

Speaking on Thursday, Pochettino said: "He is still not here in the last three days we were training," said Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino. "We will see Saturday or tomorrow if he has the possibility to train.

"I think the problem, always with this type of situation, you lose weight and energy and you need time to recover. We'll if it can be possible to be available and which level of available, whether he can play or play few minutes. We will need to assess him in the next few days."

Ahead of tonight's game, we take a look at the early team news from both Chelsea and Newcastle: