Premier League: Chelsea 2 Newcastle 1
Cole Palmer’s star continues to soar and, with it, Chelsea keep improving. This was far from a complete display but Enzo Maresca’s players sparkled in spells and had enough to outdo Newcastle, who are now winless in five and look destined for mid-table irrelevance.
Palmer was the mastermind once again, playing a brilliant role in Nicolas Jackson’s first-half goal and then beating Nick Pope early in the second to render Alexander Isak’s leveller a distant memory. If Chelsea lacked the level of control that might make their hyperactive head coach relax a little, they won through explosive bursts of the kind their opponents could not match.
Jackson’s goal crowned an opening spell in which the sides had both left sufficient space to give the other ample encouragement. It was a simple enough finish, crisply converted on the run, but the buildup was breathtaking. Palmer’s whipped pass from midway inside the Chelsea half took Tino Livramento out of the picture and sent Pedro Neto, who snicked the ball away from a sliding Fabian Schär, in full flight down the left. The resulting tee-up was perfect for Jackson and Chelsea could reflect that, this time, they had fallen the right side of some fine margins.
Earlier it had not quite worked out, Jackson playing Palmer through in the third minute for a scuffed finish across Pope that was initially deemed legal. Palmer’s muted celebration suggested he knew something was afoot and, sure enough, VAR showed he had strayed marginally offside in pursuing the pass.
This was bright fare in dazzling autumn sunshine, Newcastle showing appetite to push despite the frustration of seeing Anthony Gordon ruled out with a groin injury. If Isak’s equaliser had not exactly looked inevitable, there had been enough signs Chelsea could be exposed. Miguel Almirón had snatched at a half-chance soon after the opener and Harvey Barnes, who replaced Gordon, had seen a close-range shot blocked by Malo Gusto after Isak had sumptuously tamed a high ball.
Then a meticulous move through the middle third, technically supreme from a Newcastle perspective but all too easy when viewed with a home slant, found Barnes and he fed the overlapping Lewis Hall. On what was once his turf, the left-back flashed across a centre that Isak bundled in at waist height. A frustratingly long VAR check for another offside confirmed he had done nothing wrong and the historians could record Newcastle’s first goal from open play since September 21st.
Neto, by this stage Chelsea’s biggest threat, sought to cut short the celebrations but his deflected looper was repelled by a flying Pope. This felt exactly the kind of situation for someone to fill the leadership void that has so troubled Maresca recently. But in a scrappier end to the half it was the Italian who attracted most attention, raging at the latest in a succession of decisions against his team and taking the frustration out on his seat. By the interval Newcastle had tightened up and Chelsea, who had looked a thrilling proposition when moving the ball quickly, were straining for fresh ideas.
It took only 75 seconds of the second half for Palmer to find something new. Isak failed to hold the ball up on halfway and a prod from Roméo Lavia was enough to send his teammates scampering into the chasm between midfield and defence. There is always the sense Palmer will deliver in these situations and he justified it with a firm, low finish from 15 yards; Pope, though, will rue being beaten at his near post despite the shot’s crispness.
Now Chelsea smelled blood and Neto, climbing high, headed Noni Madueke’s deep cross on to the outside of Pope’s right post. Gusto blasted over wildly when given licence to run across the 18-yard line; Newcastle were being reduced to scratchiness and scuffle, Eddie Howe conferring at length with his assistant Jason Tindall on the touchline a few yards from the prowling Maresca.
Reece James, playing at left-back, headed an Isak cross from under the crossbar as Newcastle finally stirred. Barnes wasted a counter by running into traffic before Schär wafted a free-kick high and it was little surprise when Howe rolled the dice with a triple change for the final quarter.
One of those replacements, Joe Willock, delivered for Isak to head downwards and again see James intervene. Chelsea’s earlier urgency had stalled and the crowd’s unease, especially with the persistently sloppy distribution of Robert Sanchez, was audible. With 15 minutes left Sanchez was left exposed as Isak reached a pass down the inside right and skipped around him, only to appear caught between going it alone from a tight angle and squaring to an open Sean Longstaff. Isak eventually lost control but it was a reminder that any further drift on Chelsea’s part risked punishment.
Mykhailo Mudryk, recently introduced, sought to settle matters but Pope saved well. A late penalty award, Dan Burn having appeared to foul Christopher Nkunku, was overturned after more VAR intervention but Chelsea had done enough. – Guardian
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