At the beginning of a season-defining week, the last thing Chelsea wanted to see was John Terry limp off clutching his right hamstring. Symptomatic of the reigning champions’ campaign, their most convincing performance, no matter the obliging nature of their desperate opponents, was offset by an injury to the captain.

Six days after losing Kurt Zouma to a torn cruciate ligament, the timing could scarcely have been worse. On Sunday, Manchester City visit in the FA Cup fifth round and that competition is undoubtedly Chelsea’s best chance of a trophy.

Before that they face Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday with a centre-half pairing of Gary Cahill and Branislav Ivanovic set to be tasked with keeping Zlatan Ibrahimovic quiet. The Swedish striker sat out the scoreless draw against Lille; PSG’s manager, Laurent Blanc, having the luxury of making wholesale changes.

Guus Hiddink must have had the temptation to do the same, yet football is no place for hindsight and defeat by Newcastle would have left Chelsea nervously peering over their shoulder. Instead they are eyeing a return to the table’s top half.

“If I would have rested players, Newcastle would have come more easily in their game that they can play,” Hiddink said but he bemoaned Terry’s early departure following an awkward landing after winning an aerial challenge with Aleksandar Mitrovic.

The game was already over at that point, thanks to goals from Diego Costa, Pedro and Willian. Pedro and Bertrand Traoré added another two in the second half, while Newcastle earned the scantest consolation through Andros Townsend.

“We have a bit of damage with John Terry,” Hiddink added. “He has a muscular problem and I hope we will not have more damage with two massive games coming up.”

Chelsea will not be short of motivation in Paris. Revenge would be sweet, having been knocked out by PSG last season, while Chelsea’s Champions League win in 2012 came at the end of a campaign where domestically they struggled – though not quite as egregiously – after André Villas-Boas left mid-season and was replaced by Roberto Di Matteo.

Ligue 1’s runaway leaders are undoubted favourites and Cahill, back in the team because of Zouma’s absence, believes PSG have been eyeing this fixture on the calendar for some time. “They’re near enough done in their league, so they’re waiting for this game and we need to be aware of that and approach it in the right way,” the England defender said.

Hiddink does not think such a prosaic domestic campaign can lead to PSG being caught off guard. “When they have rested so many players, then there is no complacency from their side. They take it very, very seriously.”

The form of Pedro, a three-time Champions League winner, is a timely boost. The Spain attacker displayed an effervescence against Newcastle that has been missing so often since joining from Barcelona. “He is working always very hard but now the efficiency is growing as well and that’s encouraging,” Hiddink added.

Newcastle’s owner, Mike Ashley, was praised for allowing Steve McClaren to spend £30m on strengthening his squad last month but while the teams either side of them in the table, Norwich and Sunderland, added weight in defence, McClaren neglected to do the same. The back four here contained Steven Taylor, playing his second game in seven months, and Rolando Aarons, an inexperienced winger tasked with tracking Willian, Chelsea’s best performer this season. It was all well and good investing in creative midfielders but their impact is immaterial when those behind them surrender so feebly within minutes of the game starting.

Newcastle will have had 18 days’ rest by the time they take on Stoke on 2 March, and are spending this week in La Manga. McClaren thinks the break can galvanise his players and is unperturbed by another heavy defeat hanging over them for the duration. “We’ve done it before and that’s why I am calm and upbeat. I am looking forward to the 18 days because we will be fresher. We will have injuries back, defenders especially. We will be in a better position for the last 12 games.”

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Taylor is hopeful the squad can channel the anger from such a dud performance into a consistent run. “It’s worse than getting kicked in the nuts and that’s the truth,” the defender said. “It’s a sickening feeling, you come off the pitch and the worst thing is you have to go over to the fans who have travelled down; it’s not nice but every single player held their hand up in there, every single one. Not one person shrugged their shoulders and tried to make excuses and that is a good thing for me.”

Man of the match Willian (Chelsea)