New-look Magpies midfield at Stamford Bridge

ALAN Pardew has been forced to make major changes to his Newcastle midfield for today's game at Chelsea. With Kevin Nolan injured and Cheik Tiote not selected to prevent him incurring a suspension that could rule him out of the first two games of next season, Ryan Taylor and Shane Ferguson both come into the starting line-up. Taylor is expected to play alongside Joey Barton at the heart of midfield, with full-back Ferguson lining up ahead of Enrique on the left flank. Jonas Gutierrez is expected to shuffle to the right-hand side, with Steven Taylor retaining his place at centre-half in place of the injured Mike Williamson. Alan Smith returns from injury to take a place on a substitutes' bench that also includes youngsters Kazenga LuaLua and Sami Ameobi. CHELSEA (4-3-3): Cech; Ivanovic, Alex, Terry, Cole; Lampard, Ramires, McEachran; Benayoun, Torres, Anelka. Subs: Turnbull (gk), Ferreira, Luiz, Mikel, Essien, Malouda, Drogba. NEWCASTLE (4-4-2): Krul; Simpson, Coloccini, S Taylor, Enrique; Gutierrez, Barton, R Taylor, Ferguson; Lovenkrands, Shola Ameobi. Subs: Sderberg (gk), Tavernier, Smith, LuaLua, Ranger, Kuqi, Sami Ameobi.