Christian Pulisic and Kai Havertz will be unavailable and Thiago Silva is expected to be rested as Chelsea return to Premier League action at Newcastle United this weekend.
Attacking midfielder Havertz is back in training, but is still short of full fitness after recovering from coronavirus.
He missed the Blues’ 4-1 win over Sheffield United as well as Germany’s Nations League fixtures.
Pulisic, meanwhile, also missed the Blades win – which took the Blues to within three points of league leaders Leicester – after suffering a hamstring strain in the warm-up at Burnley and could face another two weeks on the sidelines.
And Silva looks likely to be a third absentee after his late return from international duty with Brazil.
The 36-year-old is set to return on Thursday after playing the full 90 minutes in Brazil’s matches with Venezuela and Uruguay.
There were doubts over the fitness of Ben Chilwell earlier this week after a back issue forced him off during England’s Nations League defeat to Belgium.
But the Blues are said to be optimistic their summer signing will be fit enough to start on Saturday lunchtime after Chilwell trained with England on Wednesday.
The Blues have a patchy away record at St James’ Park in recent seasons, having won just one and lost five of their last seven trips, including a 1-0 defeat in January.
