Chelsea fought hard playing for over an hour with ten men but succumbed to defeat at Newcastle courtesy of goals at the start and the end of the game.
Sandro Tonali converted early on and things went from bad to worse for us when Nicolas Jackson was sent off on 35 minutes for serious foul play following a VAR check.
But the Blues responded to our man deficit excellently, outplaying Newcastle in the second half. We created three good chances, with Nick Pope denying Marc Cucurella and Enzo Fernandez, and Reece James heading a fantastic opportunity over very late on.
Robert Sanchez had been a virtual spectator in the second half, but he was powerless to stop Bruno Guimaraes’ deflected strike loop over him in the 90th minute, ensuring our efforts proved in vain.
Team news
Enzo Maresca had the luxury of being able to name the same starting XI for the third Premier League game in a row. That meant Moises Caicedo continued in his inverted right-back role, with Romeo Lavia again in midfield. Cucurella was the only player that started against Djurgarden on Thursday.
Newcastle made two changes to their side that drew at Brighton a week ago. Kieran Trippier and Joe Willock dropped out of the squad altogether, with Sven Botman and Anthony Gordon coming in.
Early setback
Chelsea actually had the first attack of note, Pedro Neto doing well to win a corner inside 20 seconds, but that came to nothing and Newcastle surged forward in numbers. Caicedo initially made an excellent challenge on Gordon, but our hosts won the ball back and worked it wide to Jacob Murphy, whose teasing cross was turned in by Tonali at the far post.
With St James’ in full voice, we had to weather a storm for a quarter-of-an-hour before establishing a foothold in proceedings. Cole Palmer’s eyes lit up when the ball fell to him on the edge of the box, but Newcastle blocked his shot not once, but twice.
Down to ten
The runs of Jackson into the channels were looking like a good option, with the striker effectively stretching the play on a couple of occasions. But his and our afternoon took a major turn for the worse shortly after the half-hour. As he went to contest an aerial duel with Botman, Jackson caught the defender. The referee initially gave a yellow card, but after VAR intervened, he upgraded the colour to red. We would have to play the best part of an hour with ten men.
The Blues responded impressively to the setback, though. With Palmer now the most advanced player, he linked up nicely with Noni Madueke, whose low centre was turned goalwards by Neto but blocked. It was our best move of the match up to that point.
Although Newcastle smelled blood, we restricted them to very little of note before the break. A similar effort would be required for the second period if we were to get something out of the game.
Showing fight and quality
James replaced Madueke before play restarted, with Caicedo advancing into midfield. Palmer was the false nine.
Chelsea started excellently, roared on by 3000 travelling supporters high up in the Leazes Stand. Neto and Cucurella supplied good width, and the intricacy of our passing was impressive.
On the hour, a lovely flighted Palmer pass was brought down by Cucurella, who fired goalwards. Nick Pope got down low to his left to make a big save.
James fizzed a cross into a dangerous area but just ahead of Palmer and Cucurella, who were looking to bolster the number of blue shirts in the box.
Malo Gusto and Jadon Sancho were introduced for the final 15 minutes with the game still very much in the balance. We were now playing a 3-3-3 formation in possession, James dropping into defence when required.
With Chelsea pinning Newcastle back, Sancho teed up Fernandez for an inventive first-time strike that Pope had to tip over.
A better chance arrived with three minutes remaining. Another well-worked Chelsea move spread the play from left to right, and Gusto delivered an inviting cross that an unmarked James could only head over.
His and Maresca’s disappointment at the miss was compounded when Newcastle doubled their lead in the final minute of normal time, Guimaraes’ strike taking a deflection and looping over Robert Sanchez and into the far corner. The Blues had battled gamely, but it was not quite enough.
What it means…
Chelsea remain in fifth ahead of Nottingham Forest’s game against Leicester later on Sunday.
What’s next…
We host Manchester United on Friday evening at Stamford Bridge. Kick-off is at 8.15pm.
Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Sanchez; Caicedo, Chalobah (Sancho 75), Colwill, Cucurella; Lavia (Gusto 75), Fernandez (c); Neto, Palmer, Madueke; Jackson
Unused subs Jorgensen, Acheampong, Badiashile, Tosin, Dewsbury-Hall, George
Booked Maresca 39, Fernandez 45+5, Colwill 90+2
Sent off Jackson 35
Newcastle (4-3-3): Pope; Botman (Miley 55), Schar, Burn, Livramento; Guimaraes (c) (Longstaff 90+4), Tonali, Barnes; Murphy, Isak (Wilson 90+4), Gordon (Krafth 65)
Unused subs Dubravka, Ruddy, Lascelles, Neave, Osula
Scorers Tonali 2, Guimaraes 90
Booked Schar 53, Murphy 64, Guimareas 85
Referee John Brooks
Crowd 52,231