Newcastle United 0-2 Chelsea
Star man: Tammy Abraham
Newcastle line-up(5-4-1): Darlow (7 out of 10) —Manquillo (5)-Lascelles (7)(sub-Schar, 46 mins)- Clark (6)-Lewis(6) — Murphy (booked) (5)-Longstaff (7)- Hayden (5)-Saint-Maximin (6)(sub-Carroll, 74mins)—Joelinton (6)
Unused substitutes: Gillespie, Shelvey, Hendrick, Krafth.
Chelsea line-up (4-3-3): Mendy (6)—James (7)-Zouma (7)-Rüdiger (6)-Chillwell(8) (sub-Emerson, 82 mins)--Kovacic (7)-Kanté (7)--Mount (8)-Ziyech (6)(sub-Giroud, 87 mins)--Abraham (8)-Werner (7)(sub-Hudson-Odoi, 76 mins)
Unused substitutes: Arrizabalaga, Christensen, Jorginho, Azpilicueta
For many Chelsea fans, this victory may not have been a particularly joyous, celebratory occasion. A routine 2-0 victory over a Newcastle team who always expected to lose, Eduoard Mendy’s 4th clean sheet in 5 Premier League games, and a temporary term as the league leaders that lasted the length of a few hours, with Tottenham overtaking them with their own 2-0 win over Manchester City. However, for this not-exactly-neutral spectator, this was a match that proved this new Chelsea side’s worth, not a tactical masterclass, but a match that proved the value of the Blues’ ruthlessness and determination under Frank Lampard this season.
The sheer dominance right from the off that was emanated by Chelsea was a clear sign within the first ten minutes that they were going to win the game. After just 4 minutes N’Golo Kanté set Timo Werner through on goal only for the German’s effort to pull an excellent save from Karl Darlow in goal, as the Premier League’s highest shot-stopper (with 44 saves) this season was forced to make another smart save after Hakim Ziyech floated a beautiful ball from the right wing to Tammy Abraham, who saw his headed effort palmed away by the Magpies’ keeper for a corner.
Mason Mount took it, and received the ball back from Werner after an exchange with Ziyech, whipping in a dangerous ball to the back post and Federico Fernandez emerged as the unlucky claimant of the goal, having bundled the ball into his own net. The VAR check found no evidence of a push from Ben Chillwell to cause this, and Chelsea were one up.
From this point onwards, Chelsea were in control. Their match possession was 71%, as Steve McMannaman noted in commentary the impressive chemistry between the players, as the team gelled nicely despite the two-week international break in between their victory over Sheffield United and their match at St James’ Park. Werner had another chance at the half-hour mark- receiving the ball from Tammy Abraham and being virtually one-on-one with Darlow, the summer signing from RB Leipzig saw his effort go wide as he attempted to pass it in rather than bluntly blasting it past Darlow.
Some would argue that, as someone who grew up a Chelsea fan, this reporter would not be the best choice for someone to judge a Blues’ victory impartially, however, Newcastle’s negative play actively lowered my mood for large parts of the first half, as the ball came back to Chelsea over and over. Newcastle could not get out of their own half; it seemed there was no escape for the Magpies. Things brightened up for them as they provided a couple counters, as Allan Saint-Maximin had a couple chances, both of which came to nothing-a failed backheel pass collected by Mendy and a blocked shot headed wide anyway was the best he-or anyone-could muster against a sturdy Chelsea defence.
Werner was guilty of wasting chances once again after dispossessing Fabian Schär, only to attempt to find Ziyech instead of going for goal himself. As it was, Schär was let off easily as Ciaran Clark came to his rescue, and Chelsea, who could’ve been up by three or four goals by this point, were left hanging on to their single goal lead.
However, here’s something to bear in mind about Timo Werner. Whilst his record in Germany speaks for itself, scoring 91 Bundesliga goals before the age of 25, given Chelsea’s past record of proven no.9s that turned out to be flops in West London, Werner certainly had his doubters. But who immediately comes to mind of these failed Chelsea strikers? Alvaro Morata, Gonzalo Higuain, perhaps Fernando Torres as well. All of them scored goals during their time at Stamford Bridge, but let their confidence perish from missed chances and goal droughts. Today, Werner proved that he is a new form of Chelsea striker: one that can still produce brilliance after having missed several big chances.
At 65 minutes, Werner received the ball from within his own half, then made a fantastic run, beating Fernandez for pace and cutting inside Longstaff, then shifting the ball to Abraham nicely for the Englishman to coolly slide the ball past Darlow for his third goal in three Chelsea games.
Chelsea were now free to play fluently without fear of Newcastle making a comeback, with Mason Mount flourishing in the final stages in particular. Sean Longstaff had a late shot from distance strike the crossbar which would’ve been a stunner to silence the absent Chelsea fans, but Newcastle were long since beaten anyway, and Chelsea were on their way to the top of the league whilst the Tyneside club lie mid-table. So Lampard may play this down, and maybe it deserves to be played down, but this Chelsea victory was one to mark the consistency, fluidity and relentlessness of the emerging title challengers.
