Chelsea could temporarily move up to second in the Premier League table this weekend when they welcome Newcastle United to Stamford Bridge.

Frank Lampard's side have won their last four games across all competitions and have only been beaten by Liverpool in the league since the opening day of the season.

The hosts will be favourites against a Newcastle side sitting just one point clear of the relegation zone, although they will also be wary of the fact that the Magpies' only two wins this term have come against Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United.

Here, Sports Mole looks at how the Blues could line up as they aim to avoid joining that list of top-six scalps for Steve Bruce's men.

Out: Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Achilles), Marco van Ginkel (knee)
Doubtful: Andreas Christensen (hamstring), N'Golo Kante (adductor), Mateo Kovacic (leg), Antonio Rudiger (groin), Emerson Palmieri (thigh), Reece James (ankle)

> Click here for the latest Chelsea injury and suspension news ahead of this match

Chelsea suffered an unfortunate international break with regards to injuries, potentially losing as many as three first-team players.

The most high-profile of those was N'Golo Kante, whose stop-start season continued when he was forced to pull out of France's qualifier against Iceland after picking up a muscle injury during the warm-up.

Mateo Kovacic and Andreas Christensen then limped out of their matches with Croatia and Denmark respectively, and all three are subsequently major doubts for this one.

Kovacic is the most likely of the trio to recover in time, although the form of England duo Mason Mount and Ross Barkley, the latter of whom scored twice for his country in Bulgaria, means that they could be preferred in midfield anyway.

There is better injury news when it comes to Emerson Palmieri, who has returned to training following a thigh problem and is expected to take Marcos Alonso's place should he be deemed fit enough to start.

Antonio Rudiger is nearing a return from his groin problem but this match is likely to come too soon for him, leaving Kurt Zouma to partner Fikayo Tomori at the heart of the defence once again.

Callum Hudson-Odoi netted a brace for England Under-21s during the break and should start alongside Tammy Abraham and Willian, although Pedro and Christian Pulisic are also available should Lampard exercise caution considering Hudson-Odoi's recent long-term absence.

> Click here to see how Newcastle could line up for this match