Chilwell, Werner start for Chelsea as Wilson fails to make Newcastle squad

Ben Chilwell (£6.0m) starts for Chelsea in the early Gameweek 9 kick-off on Saturday.

A back spasm saw the defender substituted for England last weekend against Belgium, though he was fit enough for a place on Gareth Southgate’s bench for the Iceland tie on Wednesday.

Germany striker Timo Werner (£9.5m) is also part of Frank Lampard’s XI, playing on the left of Tammy Abraham (£7.2m) with Hakim Ziyech (£8.2m) stationed on the opposite side.

Callum Wilson (£6.6m) is not part of the Newcastle matchday squad after sustaining a hamstring injury back in Gameweek 8. Steve Bruce explained to BT Sport ahead of kick-off:

I couldn’t risk him with the amount of games we have coming up.

If he’d have played and pulled it, he’d be out for six weeks then. The big chunk of the season is coming, the winter is upon us.

I’ve erred on the side of caution to make sure he’s ok for next week.

On Wilson, who suffered that problem during a 2-0 defeat at Southampton, Bruce had said yesterday:

Callum has a chance. If there is any risk whatsoever we won’t. He has trained in the last two days so we will see.

Reece James (£5.0m) starts again for Chelsea at right-back. Owners will be hoping he can keep that spot nailed down ahead of Cesar Azpilicueta (£5.8m).

On missing trio Christian Pulisic (£8.2m), Kai Havertz (£8.3m) and Thiago Silva (£5.5m), Lampard said on Thursday:

Christian Pulisic is not fit for Newcastle but he’s stepped up his training slowly. It’s been quite a problematic injury so we will stay cautious.

Kai Havertz is back, his isolation is over. He tested negative two days ago, so he’s just started training that’s more on his own to get individually some of his fitness back after two weeks at home.

Thiago Silva has just landed. He just messaged me this afternoon so he probably won’t be going to Newcastle because of the length of the journey and timings.

Antonio Rudiger (£4.5m) is Lampard’s chosen deputy for veteran centre-half Silva.

Newcastle boss Bruce appears to be setting up with a 5-4-1 system, with Chelsea set to try and break down what looks to be a low-block defence.

Allan Saint-Maximin (£5.3m) will be the Magpies’ main threat on the counter-attack, while Jacob Murphy (£4.9m) is preferred to Paraguay international Miguel Almiron (£5.7m) on the right-hand side of midfield.

“He only came back from international duty yesterday.” – Steve Bruce on Almiron

Newcastle XI (5-4-1): Darlow; Lewis, Clark, Lascelles, Fernandez, Manquillo; Saint-Maximin, S Longstaff, Hayden, J Murphy; Joelinton.

Chelsea XI (4-3-3): E Mendy; Chilwell, Zouma, Rudiger, R James; Mount, Kanté, Kovacic; Werner, Abraham, Ziyech.