Chelsea will be aiming to make it five wins on the bounce in all competitions when they welcome Newcastle United to Stamford Bridge this evening.
The Blues, who defeated the Magpies 2-0 in the reverse fixture at St James' Park back in November, will lock horns with Steve Bruce's side fresh off the back of Thursday night's 1-0 FA Cup victory over Championship side Barnsley at Oakwell.
Striker Tammy Abraham's second half strike was enough to seal the Blues' route to the quarter-finals of the competition, stretching their unbeaten run under the stewardship of Thomas Tuchel to five matches.
Since succeeding Frank Lampard as Chelsea boss last month, Tuchel has had little time to get to know every detail about his players on the training ground, with the matches continuing to come thick and fast.
The German has been in charge for less than three weeks and tonight's clash with Newcastle, who will arrive in west London without star striker Callum Wilson through injury, will be his sixth in charge already.
Although Tuchel has not had huge amounts of time in between matches, results, of course, have been encouraging. Despite that, the former Paris Saint-Germain chief is still keen to see improved performances from his players moving forward.
"Every coach in the world maybe wants four weeks with a new team to get to know the habits and the characteristics of the players," said Tuchel in his pre-match press conference on Friday. "Maybe the good thing is that we didn't think about it because there was no time to think about it.
"It was just the situation in the moment to step in, either a yes or a no. We had to make a decision to train a day before Wolves. When we arrived, we did it and it was beneficial.
"We had a lot of games and in matches you get to know your team better.
"The boys can show their spirit of competition, their mentality and you see pretty much everything. So what we are doing now is learning and trusting each other while we play in the hardest competition in Europe."
Although Tuchel has guided Chelsea to four wins from his first five games in charge in league and cup, he is still wanting to see more from his players.
He added: "We want to have better performances but in the end the most important thing is that in a cup game that you are in the next round. We managed to do that so not everything was bad.
"There's a lot of space to improve. This is a good thing. We have three days to prepare the next match and we will use them."
After making a total of ten changes against Barnsley on Thursday evening, Tuchel is likely to revert back to the side that has got the better of the likes of Burnley, Tottenham Hotspur and Sheffield United in recent weeks, meaning the likes of Edouard Mendy, Jorginho, Mateo Kovacic and Mason Mount are likely to return.
Another man who is set to return to the squad this evening is striker Timo Werner. The Germany international was ruled out of the trip to Barnsley with a dead leg after being forced off in the 2-1 win over Sheffield United last Sunday evening.
Issuing an update on the former RB Leipzig man, Tuchel said: "It should be absolutely okay for Timo Werner to come back."
However, Tuchel, who has won one of his first two home games in charge so far, could not shed such promising news on Thiago Silva and Kai Havertz. Silva was forced off during the first half of the win over Spurs while the latter got injured during a training session ahead of the clash at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium almost a fortnight ago.
"It's maybe too close for Kai, still, and for sure for Thiago," Tuchel confirmed. "For Thiago we are aiming for Southampton, we are trying, trying hard. Let's see if he can make it, we cannot promise."
Elsewhere, Danish centre-back Andreas Christensen is poised to be available for selection despite going off against Barnsley with what Tuchel described as a "headache."
Full Chelsea squad available to face Newcastle:
Goalkeepers: Edouard Mendy, Kepa Arrizabalaga & Willy Caballero.
Defenders: Reece James, Cesar Azpilicueta, Antonio Rudiger, Kurt Zouma, Andreas Christensen, Ben Chilwell, Marcos Alonso & Emerson Palmieri.
Midfielders: Hakim Ziyech, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Jorginho, N'Golo Kante, Mateo Kovacic, Billy Gilmour, Mason Mount, Kai Havertz (if fit), Faustino Anjorin & Christian Pulisic.
Strikers: Tammy Abraham, Timo Werner & Olivier Giroud.
