Chelsea’s string of encounters with the three teams who looked doomed to relegation at Christmas concludes on Sunday with the arrival of renaissance club Newcastle at Stamford Bridge.

Both teams were in action as recently as Thursday and are unbeaten in nine league games. The Magpies’ win at Southampton was only their second victory against an opponent from the current top half of the table, but their sixth win in a row overall under Eddie Howe. They have risen from 19th position to 14th (one higher than last season’s finish) in 16 games under his management, and from 0.5 to 1.6 points per game since their boat came in.

This is Howe’s first game against Chelsea as Newcastle manager but he had a good record at the Bridge with Bournemouth, winning on three visits and losing twice. However, history shows Newcastle’s one win in 27 visits was back in May 2012.

The Londoners’ sixth straight victory over bottom club Norwich, following the 4-0 beating of Burnley, opened a nine-point gap above fifth-placed Manchester Utd, who have played a game more. The Red Devils hosts Spurs on Saturday evening.

Chelsea team news

Stormy seas require a master navigator and Chelsea are fortunate to have one of the best commanders in Thomas Tuchel. The Bavarian successful stewarded his squad through the rhythm and business-as-usual of matchday on Thursday but his noise-cancelling skills will again be required against a coach and team who will fancy their chances.

There is positive familiarity to draw on. The Londoners are unbeaten in seven Sunday league outings this season and have not lost a top-flight home game in the month of March since 2001.

The improvement in the Blues’ high-tempo energy and progressive passing from Wembley onwards was evident once more at Carrow Road, despite a second-half drop-off. Across all competitions, 10 goals have been scored in the past three matches.

Having assisted at Burnley, Trevoh Chalobah netted Chelsea’s first away goal inside the opening 10 minutes this campaign. Mason Mount, who fired in the inswinging corner, soon added his name to the scoresheet for the first time this year. Only three Premier League players have had a greater involvement in goals.

Despite Romelu Lukaku’s bright cameo at Carrow Road, Kai Havertz may still be undroppable. The silky German netted his fourth goal in four games to join his Belgian team-mate on double figures for the season.

After three games without conceding, Tuchel will be disappointed to have sustained our fifth penalty of the campaign, which put the Blues’ defence (19 conceded) back behind Manchester City’s (18).There is room for improvement at home too. While the spread of opposition goals on the road is split evenly between both halves, surprisingly, at the Bridge, 70 per cent of goals conceded by the Blues have come after the break, and 40 per cent in the closing 20 minutes or stoppage time.

If still deprived of Reece James’ unique contribution, Chelsea will hope that Marcos Alonso, Cesar Azpilicueta and Christian Pulisic can recover from illness in time. Callum Hudson-Odoi is another doubt.

Howe and why

If Chelsea staff want pointers to Eddie Howe’s approach they could do worse than watch his Coaches’ Voice Masterclass explanation of his Bournemouth team’s win at the Bridge in 2018. An aggressive 3-4-3 (with Ryan Fraser as wing-back for the first time) won 3-0 using man-for-man marking and tireless pressing to stop the supply to Eden Hazard and Pedro.

He has generally used a back four with Newcastle, including for the win at Southampton, though he changed the starting 11 there for the first time in three games and could revert to the 2018 approach too.

Since Howe’s arrival existing staff have upped their game, Fraser finding his shooting and assisting boots, wideman Jacob Murphy using his raw pace, and Joe Willock weighing in. It means they are less reliant on Allen Saint-Maximin, though he remains their most productive player with five goals and three assists.

Two January signings, centre-forward Chris Wood and pressing midfielder Bruno Guimaraes, notched their first goals for the Magpies at St Mary’s. Another, right-back Kieran Trippier, was excelling until he suffered a season-ending injury.

After Thursday Howe is facing a Steve Bruce-scale injury list, with centre-back Federico Fernandez, right-back Jamal Lewis, midfielder Isaac Hayden and top scorer Callum Wilson all set miss Sunday’s game.

Guimaraes and Trippier’s understudy Emil Krafth hobbled off in midweek, possibly with cramp, while Joelinton has a groin issue and Saint-Maximin has been ill. Without those key players the Magpies were not at their fluent best at Southampton, requiring an enormous physical effort to come back and win.

We have history

Chelsea are targeting a second league double in a row against Newcastle and the 11th overall. In four of the past five instances the Blues won by exactly the same scoreline home and away.

Home comforts?

Chelsea have played more games on the road than any league rival, with seven of our 11 remaining fixtures to be played at home. It is an advantage the Blues must exploit more. We have generated 2.20 points per league game on our travels (second only to league leaders City), but 1.92 at the Bridge, also averaging more goals conceded on home soil than at opposition grounds.

Unassisted

It is a curiosity that more than 40 per cent of Newcastle’s goals have come not from a team-mate’s ‘assist’ but after an opposition touch, rebound off the goal-frame, or by a direct free-kick. That is the same figure as Man City, whereas with Chelsea 31 per cent of goals are ‘orphans’. Only Wolves, with 43 per cent, have fewer assists-to-goals than the Magpies.

LOSC lowdown

Next Wednesday’s Champions League opponents Lille have had fared well domestically since our first-leg meeting 20 days ago, winning twice and drawing once without conceding and rising to sixth in defence of their league crown.

Once again Ligue 1 allowed les Dogues to bring their weekend fixture forward to Friday, allowing them more preparation for Wednesday’s tie. Renato Sanches’ early exit robbed them of creativity at home to struggling Saint Etienne last night and they drew 0-0.

Challenging the bigots

Our club’s well established anti-discrimination programmes will be in focus this weekend, whenThis weekend ‘No Room for Racism’ is the Premier League message across all grounds. Football should be a gathering where everyone feels welcome and the Premier League’s message, like the club’s, is to ‘Challenge it. Report it. Change it.’ whenever discrimination in any form takes place.

Premier League fixtures

SaturdayBrighton v Liverpool 12.30pm (BT Sport)Brentford v Burnley 3pmMan Utd v Tottenham 5.30pm (Sky Sports)

SundayChelsea v Newcastle 2pm (Sky Sports)Everton v Wolves 2pmLeeds v Norwich 2pmSouthampton v Watford 2pmWest Ham v Aston Villa 2pmArsenal v Leicester 4.30pm (Sky Sports)

MondayCrystal Palace v Man City 8pm (Sky Sports)