Depth is Chelsea's edge, says Remy

Chelsea striker Loic Remy believes his team's convincing midweek victory over Tottenham Hotspur illustrated why the Stamford Bridge club is already the clear favorite to win the Premier League title.

Jose Mourinho's side travels to face Newcastle United on Saturday after having consolidated its six-point lead at the top of the table with a 3-0 win over Spurs on Wednesday.

Remy, who scored as a substitute against Mauricio Pochettino's side, feels Chelsea is dominating the title race because of the squad's deep talent pool.

The win over Spurs was achieved without leading scorer Diego Costa, who was forced to sit out the game while he served a one-game suspension.

With the Spain international sidelined, Didier Drogba stepped in to lead the attack and found the target before making way for Remy in the second half.

With Kurt Zouma impressively filling in for Gary Cahill after the England centerback was forced off through injury, Remy believes the game highlighted the quality of Mourinho's fringe players.

"We know the quality of Diego - he can score and is a really good striker. We like the way he's playing. But this was a real opportunity for Didier and for me, to show we can win without Diego," said the Frenchman.

"We need everybody. The squad is really strong and that makes the difference between us and the other teams.

"We will keep going and try to keep the distance over our closest opponent. It's six points and that's really good. We will try to continue in this way."

Costa is expected to return against Newcastle, but Remy said he will be ready if Mourinho opts to field the France international against his former club.

"For me it's important I took my chance," he said. "Mourinho can count on me any time he wants. I want to play - that is why I work hard during training sessions.

"We have good strikers and the others are very professional. But every time the manager wants to use me, I try to do my best."

Chelsea returns to the northeast seven days after dropping two points in a scoreless stalemate with Sunderland.

Manchester City's win at Southampton 24 hours later allowed the champion to move to within six points of the leader and Manuel Pellegrini's side will draw hope from the fact Mourinho has never won at St James Park.

Despite Sunderland's dogged performance against Chelsea, Newcastle captain Steven Taylor said Alan Pardew's side will not adopt the same stifling tactics.

"I watched the game between Sunderland and Chelsea, but this is going to be a totally different match," said the former England Under-21 defender, whose side has lost only once in nine matches.

"We're at home, and we'll be going out to play our own game.

"We're not really set up to be defensive and to put a lot of players behind the ball, and I'm not sure we'd want to do that anyway.

"We'll be playing our natural game and looking to be positive."

Winger Sammy Ameobi is struggling with a thigh problem, and Rolando Aarons is another week away from making his comeback following a lingering hamstring injury.

Pardew will be boosted by the availability of influential midfield duo Moussa Sissoko and Jack Colback after suspension.