Ross Barkley is the man to make way. It is Kante's 150th start for Chelsea in all competitions.

There is also a landmark achievement for Callum Hudson-Odoi, who makes his 50th appearance for the Blues in all competitions. Willian and Tammy Abraham again join him in attack.

Frank Lampard has explained the difficulty in his decision-making for today's selection, particularly leaving Barkley on the bench: 'It's been a delicate decision because of how Ross Barkley has played in the last two games.

'I would say that’s been the difficult thing. It’s a good thing to have competition and that’s what I want so Ross should feel a little bit disappointed. That’s the hard part of my job but with N'Golo’s attributes and what he brings to the team, I thought it was a decision to make for this game.'

Newcastle make a number of changes to the side that started at Wolves on Saturday, with Allan Saint-Maximin, Jamal Lascelles and Emil Krafth among those selected.

Chelsea: Kepa; James, Rudiger, Christensen, Azpilicueta (c); Kante, Jorginho, Mount; Hudson-Odoi, Abraham, Willian.

Subs: Caballero, Zouma, Emerson, Kovacic, Barkley, Pedro, Batshuayi.

Newcastle: Dubravka; Krafth, Fernandez, Clark, Lascelles (c), Willems; Joelinton, Hayden, Shelvey, Almiron; Saint-Maximin.

Subs: Darlow, Schar, Ritchie, Lejeune, M Longstaff, S Longstaff, Atsu.

.The referee is Chris Kavanagh.

Stats recap

The Blues and the Magpies meet for the 50th occasion in the Premier League. Chelsea have won 25, Newcastle 12 and there have been 12 draws.

Newcastle have taken four points from their last eight Premier League games against Chelsea, losing the last three.

We are hoping to complete the double over Newcastle for the second consecutive season.

Chelsea are looking to record consecutive away Premier League wins against Newcastle United for the first time since winning 2-0 in both 2007/08 and 2008/09.

Chelsea have won seven of our last 10 away Premier League games – only Liverpool (28) have won more away points than the Blues this season (22).

Frank Lampard’s side have won five more points on the road this term than at Stamford Bridge.

The Blues have scored 25 away Premier League goals – one more than we managed in the whole of the last campaign.

Four different English players have scored a combined 20 Premier League goals for Chelsea this season, the most on both counts in a season for the Blues since 2012/13 (five players scoring 23 goals).

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