Michael Ballack and Florent Malouda were the men on target in the second half at St James' Park.

The Blues host Bolton on Sunday, while United - who have a far superior goal difference - are away to Wigan.

Chelsea's first goal came on 61 minutes after Newcastle's Abdoulaye Faye had been booked for a foul on Malouda on the right flank.

Didier Drogba dinked the resulting set-piece into the danger zone and Ballack rose highest to glance a header past Steve Harper and into the net.

On 82 minutes, Chelsea doubled their lead with Malouda netting from a pass from substitute Frank Lampard.

Avram Grant had surprisingly chosen to leave Lampard and Joe Cole on the bench as his side went in search of a first league win on Tyneside since 2001.

The first half began at a slow pace, with Michael Owen lifting a first-time shot high over the bar while Wayne Bridge wasted a good opportunity when he blasted a 19th-minute free-kick straight into the wall after Joey Barton had fouled Michael Essien.

Newcastle came agonisingly close to taking the lead on 29 minutes after Obafemi Martins caused havoc in the Chelsea box.

The Nigerian's chest control allowed Mark Viduka to stab in a shot which Petr Cech blocked, and Owen seemed certain to convert the rebound - but was denied by a superb goal-line clearance from John Terry.

The Chelsea skipper was booked soon afterwards for a foul on Owen.

Ballack should then have given the visitors the lead when Essien's pass left the German in acres of space inside the Newcastle box, but he sliced his left-foot shot from a narrowing angle wide.

Viduka failed to reappear for the second half after suffering an Achilles injury so Alan Smith was brought on in his place.

But it was Chelsea who continued to press and after Ricardo Carvalho failed to hit the target from a Malouda corner, another flag-kick from the Frenchman saw Terry connect with a thunderous header which came back off the crossbar.

Finally the pressure told, with Ballack arriving to meet Drogba's well-executed free-kick for his ninth goal of the season.

Lampard replaced Nicolas Anelka midway through the second half and the England midfielder helped seal victory eight minutes from time.

Newcastle had twice gone close to an equaliser through Martins and Owen but when Lampard finished off a neat passing move by threading the ball through to Malouda, the Frenchman slid the ball past the onrushing Harper for his first league goal since the opening day.

Essien almost netted a third for Chelsea in stoppage time, only to be denied by the Magpies stopper.

Grant's men will now look to beat Bolton and hope Steve Bruce's Latics can do them a massive favour if they are to wrestle the silverware away from United.