IF you don’t score goals, you can’t win football matches. So as Newcastle United attempt to improve their wretched away record when they travel to Chelsea this evening, they won’t have to look far to work out how best to alter their fortunes.

The Magpies’ tally of six goals from 12 away matches is the worst in the Premier League by a distance, and goes a long way towards explaining why Steve McClaren’s side have picked up just seven points on their travels this term.

They have scored just once in the last four away games, and even that was little more than a consolation as Jamaal Lascelles’ header merely reduced the margin of their defeat at Watford.

Their failure to carve out chances on their travels has been a key Achilles heel, and has piled ever more pressure on the Magpies’ home form, which is just about holding out under the strain.

Last weekend’s win over West Brom was crucial, but with trips to Chelsea and Stoke to come before Newcastle return to St James’ Park, the club’s next home match against Bournemouth will be every bit as pivotal unless the away form improves.

Fail to pick up anything from Stamford Bridge, and with Newcastle facing an 18-day hiatus because of their exit from the FA Cup and Manchester City’s presence in the Capital One Cup final, there is every chance they will be back in the bottom three by the time they travel to the Britannia Stadium on March 2. Lose there, and the need to beat Bournemouth will be extreme.

“It’s a little bit of a problem we’ve had all season – home and away,” said McClaren. “We’ve progressed to a situation where we’re consistently giving performances at home that are generally getting results.

“To win games, you have to score goals and you have to make sure you keep clean sheets. Maybe because of the nature of how we play – we’re very front foot, we’re very open, very go for it and attacking – it’s an advantage at home. But in certain games, it hasn’t been an advantage.

“Away from home, we’ve not ground out enough results, enough draws. Just think where we’d be if two or three of the games had been draws and we’d picked up a couple more points.

“That’s something we need to address between now and the end of the season because we certainly can’t just rely on our home form. That puts too much pressure on us. Like after Everton – all of a sudden, there was massive, massive pressure on us for West Brom. If you continue like that, the pressure will eventually become too big.”

If Newcastle are looking for positives ahead of today’s game, they can reflect on the fact that their best away display of the season came in London, against a side they were not expected to beat.

December’s 2-1 win at Tottenham continues to look like something of an aberration, both in terms of the Magpies’ general away form and Spurs’ other results at White Hart Lane, but the visitors’ performance that day confirmed the extent of their counter-attacking abilities.

Chelsea can be expected to dominate possession later today, but with the likes of Georginio Wijnaldum and Andros Townsend in their starting line-up, Newcastle will hope to pose a threat on the break.

They have troubled Chelsea in the past – no side in the Premier League has a better overall record against the reigning champions in the last five years – although their last three visits to Stamford Bridge have resulted in two 2-0 defeats and a 3-0 reverse.

That was when Chelsea were sweeping all before them of course, and the outgoing title holders are a very different proposition this term. They occupy 13th position ahead of today’s game, but the fact they have not lost any of their last 11 matches under Guus Hiddink perhaps gives a more reliable indication of their current well-being.

“It’s Chelsea, and they’re the champions,” said McClaren. “Look at the players they’ve got. We’ve reviewed their games and looked at their players, and there’s quality there. Whoever they play in their front four, they’ll have quality and talent in their team.

“If you don’t put in a top performance away from home at Chelsea, you’ll lose the game. So it’s about us and what we do.

“Guus has come in and done a good job, settled them down and got them back to being hard to beat. They’ve still got the fluency and players who are dangerous. We certainly don’t think this is an easier game than it was before – in fact, it’s tougher.”

After completing today’s game, Newcastle’s players will travel to a training camp in La Manga that will see them play a friendly with Norwegian side Lillestrom.

“It definitely won’t be a jolly,” said McClaren. “We could have gone to warmer climes and more luxurious places, but it’s a training camp.

“There’ll be a lot of work and preparation, with injured players coming back who need work and need that togetherness. Because after the Chelsea game, from Stoke onwards it’ll be game after game.”