Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca has insisted he 'knew Newcastle United would be there' after the Magpies closed the gap on his side to just a single point.

The situation was very different just a month ago, of course. Following Newcastle's 4-2 defeat at Brentford, which left the black-and-whites in 12th place, Chelsea moved 11 points clear of Eddie Howe's team in the table.

However, Newcastle have since won five league games on the bounce; scored 14 goals; conceded just once; and defeated, among others, Aston Villa, Spurs and Manchester United in the top-flight. Chelsea, in contrast, have only won one league game in that time and the fourth-placed Blues are now just a point ahead of Newcastle. Yet that has not come as a surprise to Maresca.

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"It was two or three weeks ago that we were talking about the title race," the Italian told reporters after being asked directly about Newcastle gaining ground. "Now I never thought that.

"We knew that Newcastle and Aston Villa would be there. [Manchester] City will, for sure, be there. So it's not about the table. It's just about how we can improve things."

Could that lead to Chelsea dipping into the transfer market yet again? Although Maresca had the luxury of naming defenders Axel Disasi and Tosin Adarabioyo on the bench last week, the Blues have been linked with a move for former centre-back Marc Guehi, who was Newcastle's top target last summer.

"The only thing I can say is Marc Guehi is a [Crystal] Palace player," Maresca said. "I like Marc, for sure, but he's not our player.

"I also like the central defenders we have and the different kind of central defenders that are in Italy, Spain, France, but that doesn't mean we are going to buy a player. It's just a normal situation when you have central defenders injured that the speculation is there but, at the same time, there is nothing there."