Key events
Here’s what that result does to the Premier League table (nothing in terms of positions, Chelsea stay 11th).
Full-time: Chelsea 3-2 Newcastle
Newcastle didn’t really trouble Chelsea in those final minutes. Murphy set up what could have been a tense finish, but it wasn’t to be.
90+5 min: Yellow card for Joe White, who brings Mudryk down. Chelsea will try to waste some time by the corner flag.
90+2 min: This would be very Chelsea 2023-24 to give this away.
90 min: Six minutes for Newcastle to find an equaliser! Suddenly those changes look a bit foolish. I bet Howe wishes he still had Bruno Guimarães on the pitch. I bet Pochettino wishes he still had Palmer on the pitch, to bring a sense of composure and calm to proceedings.
GOAL! Chelsea 3-2 Newcastle (Murphy 90)
Hang on a minute, this game is not done!
What. A. Hit. Murphy rolls Cucurella on the right, advances to the right side of the box and unleashes an absolute piledriver into the top bins! That was postage stamp stuff, flying inside Petrovic’s near post, but you wouldn’t say the Chelsea goalkeeper is at fault. Just an unbelievable strike, I’d like to know what the speed gun said on that.
88 min: Mudryk, who has looked so sharp and direct since coming on, heads off on another adventure. Skipping around two challenges, he sprints at considerable haste to the byline but can only cross into the hands of Dubravka. The Ukrainian is so dangerous when he’s in the mood, though.
86 min: Palmer is MoM, but some other sneaky good performances out there for Chelsea. Caicedo, Jackson and Enzo.
84 min: Chelsea, suggesting that they think the game is in the bag, also make a change. Cole Palmer, surely tonight’s player of the match, comes off for Casadei. The young Italian is making his home debut.
82 min: Not for the first time tonight, or the first time this season, Jacob Murphy flashes an excellent low cross across Chelsea’s goal. Nobody on the end of it. Eddie How will be pulling his hair out.
80 min: Newcastle, perhaps admitting that their race is run tonight, make two more changes. Bruno Guimarães comes off for Miley, while Willock comes off for Joe White.
78 min: Again, that was really impressive from Jackson, who has lead the line well tonight. He made the goal, really, although Mudryk finishes it with confidence that has often been lacking.
GOAL! Chelsea 3-1 Newcastle (Mudryk 76)
Chelsea hit Newcastle on the counter attack, and that should be the game! Jackson spins Botman and drives up the left. A neat pass inside finds Gallagher, but Mudryk takes the ball off his teammates’ toes, nutmegs Schar to put himself clean through. Dubravka spreads himself, but Mudryk skips around the keeper and slides the ball into the net. Krafth tries desperately on the line to keep it out, but the Swede can’t. Great goal.
74 min: The game is definitely in the balance here.
72 min: Caicedo is the next Chelsea player to go into the book. Livramento, now playing at left back after Burn’s departure (with Krafth right back), made a nice dash up the wing. He rode the challenge of Enzo, but Caicedo brings him down. I thought the Ecuadorian got the ball, but replays show it was a cynical challenge.
71 min: Yellow card for Petrovic! Timewasting!
70 min: Chelsea respond with a substitution of their own: Sterling off for Mudryk.
68 min: Whether it is enforced or not, Newcastle make two changes. Krafth on for the hobbling Burn, Almiron off for Anderson. Not a like-for-like change, the latter one. Maybe a change of shape for Newcastle?
66 min: One area Newcastle are strong in is set pieces. Burn, Schar, Botman, Longstaff, Isak are all a handful in the middle. From a deep free-kick, Burn heads wide, and it looks like the big left back is injured, falling awkwardly. He’s down, and doesn’t look particularly happy writhing on the ground.
63 min: I mentioned it before the game, but Newcastle’s lack of options on the bench is worrying. Who of Lascelles, Ritchie, Targett, Krafth, Karius, Anderson, White, Miley could make an attacking impact? Maybe the young Miley, to add some fresh legs in midfield? Slim pickings.
61 min: That’s the fifth league game this season where Palmer has both a goal and an assist. No other player in the league can match that tally. Tottenham’s Son Heung-min is the nearest with four games.
Palmer’s assist at Brentford meant he overtook Arjen Robben’s 16 (2004-05) goal involvements in league games for a Chelsea player aged 21 or under. Now Palmer is up to 18.
59 min: Just as Chelsea were wasteful before Newcastle’s equaliser, the visitors were guilty there. Two or three times they gave away possession cheaply. Palmer had found pockets of space a few times before, the warning signs were there. He’s a special player. Always has time on the ball. Feels like he will certainly be in Southgate’s summer plans.
GOAL! Chelsea 2-1 Newcastle (Palmer 57)
Chelsea have been dominant these past few minutes, with Palmer makes Newcastle pay! He collects the ball in tight space just outside the box, and lets’s fly. It goes through Botman’s legs, hard and low, and creeps inside Dubravka’s near post. A brilliant finish. Chelsea lead!
55 min: Another email from Chris Paraskevas:
There’s no doubt that Martin Tyler formed the soundtrack to so many of our football lives (Down Under at least, where he frequently covered World Cups for SBS Television, starting at Italia ‘90 I believe).
But the Peter Brackley Book Of Pro Evo quips are truly the pinnacle of football commentary (ably abetted by Trevor Brooking):
“In the opening minutes of the second half!”
“Oh, I say!”
“That’s right: Peter.”
Ah, yes. Nostalgia.
53 min: Chelsea break, and Sterling finds some space. He drives at Botman, shooting wide when he might have been better slipping in a teammate.
51 min: Palmer v Burn is a total mismatch. The Chelsea man is tying the Newcastle full back in knots. Eventually Longstaff comes across to help, but Palmer slips them both, and darts a brilliant cross across the face of Newcastle’s goal. A delivery begging to be tapped in, where was Jackson? Gallagher was the closest to it, but it’s the Englishman that ended up in the net, rather than the ball.
50 min: My football editor, Marcus Christenson, is quite excited about Sweden’s new attack: “Isak, Kulusevski, Goykares. Jon Dahl Tomasson has a lot of firepower to work with”.
Hard to disagree with that, but Sweden don’t have the same quality in midfield or defence.
48 min: Newcastle take the corner short before Bruno Guimarães whips a wondrous inswinger across the face of Chelsea’s goal. The corridor of uncertainty, I think they call it. The ball was almost too good, too much pace for either defender or attacker to clear or poke home.
47 min: Newcastle immediately on the offensive. Isak holds off Disasi and feeds Almiron, who stings the palms of Petrovic. Good save, and did well to divert it over rather than back into a dangerous area.
Peeeeeep! We’re off again at Stamford Bridge.
Half-time reading, courtesy of Jonathan Wilson.
Half-time: Chelsea 1-1 Newcastle
A frantic end to that half. Honours even.
45+4 min: Chelsea race up the other end and nearly retake the lead! Palmer shows poise and guile to find Gusto on the byline. The right back crosses deep to Gallagher, who nods back to Sterling, who finds a yard and smashes a shot right down the throat of Dubravka! Great chance!
45+3 min: Willock races through on goal, chests it down but can’t finish! He lifts an easy finish over Petrovic and over the bar. Willock was actually flagged for offside, but replays show he was on! That would have counted, if Willock had put it in the end.
Jackson scores … but it’s ruled out for offside!
45+1 min: Newcastle play an extremely high line and Chelsea break. Jackson is clean through, skips around a retreating Schar and slides the ball under Dubravka. A finish finish … but ruled out for offside. Replays show the Chelsea striker was just one yard beyond Botman, who was the last man.
45 min: I used to play with someone that was an expert at that Isak move. RB7, shift and bang. Or an R2 finish, for all the Pro Evo heads.