The Magpies welcome Chelsea to St. James' Park (kick-off 3pm GMT) hoping to bounce back from their defeats at Borussia Dortmund and Bournemouth just prior to the break from domestic fixtures.

A handful of United's international stars were back at Benton preparing for the weekend's fixture, with Joelinton, Fabian Schär and Lewis Hall among them, along with a number of younger players from Newcastle's under-21 team - though head coach Eddie Howe will hope that concerns over the amount of injuries suffered by his charges recently are beginning to alleviate.

Club photographer Serena Taylor brought nufc.co.uk this gallery from Thursday afternoon's training session.