Newcastle's Graeme Jones discusses January transfer window

Having been taken over by a consortium backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, whose total estimated assets are valued at more than $500bn, there is an expectation that Newcastle will splash the cash when the transfer window reopens at the turn of the year.

A host of international players have been touted as potential targets, but persuading them to join a club struggling in the Premier League relegation zone will not be easy, and even if new signings arrive, it would be naïve to assume they could all hit the ground running.

Instead, the players currently on Newcastle’s books will have to play a pivotal role in safeguarding the club’s top-flight status, with Jones adamant they are capable of digging the Magpies out of trouble.

“I think we’ve got a good core here,” said the stand-in boss. “For different reasons, we’ve started poorly. That’s the truth. But there’s nothing and nobody more important than the core group of players that’s at this football club. I can assure you they care about this football club. There’s a lot of lads been here a long, long time.

“I see January as an opportunity to help the group that’s here. You can’t make wholesale changes, so the most important thing is to get the best out of the core group of players that we’ve got here now. Then January will be a bonus.”

The immediate priority is to try to spring a surprise against Chelsea this afternoon, with Jones hoping his players will build on the signs of promise that were evident in last weekend’s 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.

The former England assistant accepts his side will have to be at their defensive best against a Chelsea side that put seven goals past a shell-shocked Norwich last weekend, but he also wants to see an improvement in their output in the attacking third.

“I want to see us be a bit more sophisticated on the ball,” said Jones. “We only had a short period to put the team together last week, but we’ve had five days of the training with the boys. It’s not going to be easy against Chelsea, we know that, but without divulging every aspect of our game, that would be the first thing we’d be looking to improve.

"Nobody wants to be second from bottom, so there's always urgency. We want to win three points - it can't come soon enough - but there's also no need to panic."

Martin Dubravka has returned to full training, but having been out of action since injuring his foot during this summer’s European Championships, the Slovakian is unlikely to dislodge Karl Darlow from the starting side.

“Martin is fit and available,” said Jones. “He’s had a good ten days, maybe 12 days’ work. But he hasn’t played a game yet. For me, Martin Dubravka is a top keeper. But Lionel Messi is a top player, and if they haven’t played games and they’re not match fit, you’ve got to get them to that level first before they can perform at their best.

“We’re in that process. Like all players, I’ll assess him this week and next week. There’s an international period for him after that, and we’ll have to see where we are in the next two weeks.”

Newcastle (probable, 4-2-3-1): Darlow; Manquillo, Krafth, Lascelles, Clark, Ritchie; Hayden, Longstaff, Fraser; Saint-Maximin, Wilson.