Club historian Rick Glanvill and club statistician Paul Dutton detail everything you need to know before Chelsea face Newcastle United for the second time in the space of four days.

It’s the night before Halloween and, three days after these two teams went head to head in a spirited 2-1 win for the Blues in the Premier League at Stamford Bridge, it’s trick or treat time on Tyneside.

At stake at St James' Park is a place in the quarter-finals of English football’s fastest route to glory - the stage of the Carabao Cup at which Chelsea and Newcastle met last December at the Bridge. On a night of late drama, the Blues reached the last four by prevailing in the penalty shootout 4-2.

The Magpies have never won the League Cup but, two seasons ago, they reached the final for first time since 1976, losing 2-0 to Manchester United. Eddie Howe’s side missed out on Europe this season, so their only midweek focus is this competition and their quest to end a 69-year run without major domestic silverware.

This is five-time winners Chelsea’s 65th League Cup campaign and we have reached the final three times in the past six attempts. The Blues are unbeaten on Tyneside in this competition after previous victories in 2004 (2-0) and 2006 (1-0).

Route to round four

Chelsea 5-0 Barrow

Newcastle United 1-1 Nottingham Forest (4-3 on pens)
Newcastle United 1-0 Wimbledon

Team news

Playing just three and a half days after the last game, against the same opposition, could mean Enzo Maresca opts for a similar line-up to the one which pummelled Panathinaikos in the UEFA Conference League last week, with a mixture of youth and experience on the bench.

Maresca will make sure his side know what to expect at St James’ Park – he was Pep Guardiola’s assistant two years ago when the Magpies roared into a 3-1 lead over Manchester City but eventually had to settle for a point.

Christopher Nkunku was the leading scorer of round three of the Carabao Cup, finding the net with each of his three shots against Barrow, and he has scored in every game he has started this season except one, against Man City when he played off the left.

The match will be broadcast live in the UK on Sky Sports+, accessible through Sky TV and the Sky Sports app. Whilst you can also follow all the action live on our website and app, with live commentary and minute-by-minute updates in our Newcastle United v Chelsea match centre.

Carabao Cup regulations

The Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system is not in operation during this tie, which will be played to a finish this evening, as should the scores be level after second-half stoppage time, the winners will be determined by penalty kicks.

The draw for the quarter-finals will take place live on Sky Sports after coverage of tonight’s tie between Tottenham and Man City, an 8.15pm kick-off UK time.

Those last-eight fixtures are currently scheduled for the week commencing 16 December, with Chelsea already hosting Shamrock Rovers in the Conference League on Thursday 19 December.

The history

This is the seventh League Cup tie between Chelsea and Newcastle United, and the second in round four of the competition.

That previous meeting at the same stage was also at St James’ Park, on 10 November 2004, a 2-0 extra-time victory for Jose Mourinho’s all-conquering team. The Blues had Carlo Cudicini to thank for completing the 90 minutes without conceding, especially from a Laurent Robert free-kick.

Equally, the eventual winners of the competition might have headed south with a victory straight after normal time, had we not squandered gilt-edged chances. In the end, the match winner was Arjen Robben, who slipped fellow substitute Eidur Gudjohnsen in for the first, then scored himself from a typical rocket-heeled run, the winger’s third in three games across all competitions.

Overall Chelsea have progressed from five of our six previous League Cup encounters with Newcastle (two of them on Tyneside), and most recently at Stamford Bridge in last season’s quarter-final. That game also finished even at 1-1, thanks to Mykhailo Mudryk stealing in for a last-gasp strike.

In the shoot-out that followed, Kieran Trippier, already at fault for the Ukrainian’s equaliser, drove his penalty wide. With all four Blues takers finding a way past Martin Dubravka, Djordje Petrovic saved Matt Ritchie’s effort to secure our place in the last four.

Know this…

On this day three years ago, Chelsea won 3-0 in the league at St James’ Park with two goals from Reece James and a late Jorginho penalty.

Sunday’s win was our 78th against the Magpies on all fronts, placing them behind only Tottenham (79) as our most-beaten opponents.

When the recently-formed Chelsea Football Club reached a cup semi-final for the first time ever – in the FA Cup on 25 March 1911 – Newcastle were the opposition.

The two sides first met in the League Cup 32 years ago (minus a day) on 29 October 1992, a 2-1 home win for the Londoners against Kevin Keegan’s First Division leaders.

Chelsea are London’s first (1965) and most recent (2015) winners of the League Cup trophy, and have reached three of the past six Carabao Cup finals.