Chelsea 0 Newcastle 1
Newcastle finally starting to find some consistency in the league. It’s been quite a poor season in the Premier League so far for Eddie Howe’s side languishing in mid-table for most of it but they are starting to climb towards them European spots as of recent weeks. Chelsea started the better team creating a couple of half-chances for Fofana and Palmer but it was Newcastle who took the early lead in the 18th minute as Livramento played a through ball straight through the middle of Chelsea’s defence sending Willock through on goal who then unselfishly rolled it to Anthony Gordon who had a tap-in as Newcastle took the lead against the run of play. The goal seemed to rock Chelsea as they couldn’t really get anything going for the rest of the half as Newcastle were pretty comfortable defending their box. You’d think Chelsea would come out of the blocks flying in the second half but that wasn’t the case as Delap was subbed on for the second half and spurned a couple of good opportunities as Chelsea couldn’t break down Newcastle the whole game, overall Newcastle were comfy with the lead and saw the game out pretty easily in the end as Chelsea couldn’t find that bit of quality to unlock the defence. A blow for Chelsea in the race for the top 4/5.
A huge effort from Newcastle’s defence. When the team news came out before the game I thought it was going to be a long night for Newcastle without any of their main midfielders of Tonali-Joelinton-Guimaraes in the starting line up but it didn’t faze them as Ramsey-Willock-Woltemade all played pretty well against one of the best midfielders in the league in my opinion, as soon as they got their goal the game plan was to defend and it payed off for Eddie Howe as Newcastle got only their second ever win in the league at Stamford Bridge. That backline was imperious giving Chelsea very little in terms of clear-cut chances and I wonder if Eddie Howe will play the same backline against Barcelona at the Nou Camp on Wednesday where undoubtedly they’ll be defending for most of the game. Aaron Ramsdale has also been impressive since coming into the starting 11 for Newcastle only conceding two goals against Man United, Barcelona and Chelsea, he’s going to have to be on top form on Wednesday if Newcastle want any chance of going through to the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
Lacklustre Chelsea can’t afford to keep dropping points. I thought the win against Villa last week was a statement performance from Chelsea against one of their rivals for the top 4/5 but they were so poor today going forward, Joao Pedro has been the shining light for Chelsea under Liam Rosenior so far but this was probably his worst performance since the manager joined as Malick Thiaw and Sven Botman didn’t give the Chelsea striker a sniff all game. The rest of Chelsea’s attackers were similar as both Garnacho and Palmer were poor as Chelsea failed to score for only the third game this season in the Premier League. The goal that they conceded was baffling as there was a massive gap through the centre of their defence for Willock to run straight into and pretty easily then set up Gordon for the goal, PSG will be licking their lips thinking they can score another 5 if Chelsea defend like that on Wednesday in the second leg where it will take a miracle for Chelsea to go through with the way they’re playing at the minute.
Can Newcastle get into Europe? For most of the season Newcastle have looked miles off qualifying for the European spots through their league position but they have put a run together recently that just might get them back in contention for at least a Conference League spot, this win has now put them in 9th only two points off Brentford in 7th who have a game in hand against Wolves on Monday, if they want to look higher they are six points off Chelsea and Liverpool and with 8 games still left to play why not aim as high as you can in the league. The next game for Newcastle is a big one as Sunderland come to St James Park seeking to do the league double over Newcastle in their first season after getting promoted, no doubt Newcastle will want revenge after the disastrous own-goal from Woltemade which cost them the derby back in December.
Chelsea can’t afford to keep dropping points. Chelsea’s run-in is probably the hardest out of all the teams fighting to get into the Champions League next year as they still have Liverpool, Man United, Man City all to play before the end of the season. This result leaves them in 5th on 48 points but Liverpool are right behind them on goal-difference and play Spurs at Anfield tomorrow so will at least be ahead by a point if Spurs can even manage a draw which seems pretty impossible with the way they’re playing at the minute. Man United play Aston Villa at Old Trafford tomorrow as both teams look to move six points clear of Chelsea in a game both need to win, Chelsea are in real trouble at the minute and could probably do without that second leg against PSG on Tuesday were they’re 3 goals down, it’s Brighton next in the league at the AMEX where Chelsea simply have to win to try and keep up with the rest, a big week ahead for Liam Rosenior.