Match Report: Chelsea 3-2 Newcastle United

Chelsea beat Newcastle 3-2 as Cole Palmer scored one and assisted another to inspire the win at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea started the scoring with Nicolas Jackson getting his ninth goal of the season after his neat flick after a Palmer shot. In the 43^rd minute Alexander Isak equalised for The Magpies to send the teams in level at half time. Palmer restored the hosts lead with a thunderous shot past Martin Dubravka, then as Chelsea continued to impress Mykhailo Mudryk wrapped up the game before late on Jacob Murphy got a consolation goal.

Chelsea grabbed a vital win against Newcastle in the battle for Europe to make them unbeaten in four and just one point behind Newcastle who sit 10^th.

Mauricio Pochettino made two changes to the side which drew against Brentford with Raheem Sterling and Marc Cucurella replacing Ben Chilwell and Levi Colwill,

Eddie Howe also made two changes to his team with Tino Livramento and Miguel Almiron replacing the injured Kieran Trippier and Harvey Barnes.

The hosts got off to a dream start scoring eight minutes in which is their earliest goal of the season.

Malo Gusto’s low cross led to a miscued clearance from Sven Botman which led to Palmer striking the ball towards goal from the edge of the box, but it was a lovely flick from Jackson who diverted the ball away from the keeper to make The Blues go one goal up.

Chelsea looked comfortable as the game went on and then a blow came to the Magpies as their star player Anthony Gordon came off due to injury being replaced by Jacob Murphy.

Chelsea failed to make the most of their dominance as Newcastle scored with their first shot on target in the 43^rd minute thanks to an Isak strike perfectly placed into the bottom right corner from the edge of the box to give him his 12^th league goal of the season.

Three minutes later Chelsea thought they regained the lead as Jackson had the ball in the net, but it was ruled out for offside while at the other end Joe Willock got in behind but failed to capitalize.

Chelsea continued to press Newcastle and it paid off as Enzo Fernandez played the ball into Palmer who unleashed a powerful shot into the bottom right corner to give Chelsea the lead.

Minutes later Chelsea nearly got their third after a flick from Jackson played Sterling through on goal who took it around Dubravka but Dan Burn was back on the line to clear the ball away.

Chelsea finally got their third goal which gave them a two-goal advantage as substitute Mudryk showed a moment of excellence to nutmeg Fabian Schar before rounding Dubravka.

Jacob Murphy managed to grab one back for The Magpies in the 90^th minute with his venomous shot flying into the top right corner.

But the goal was too little to late as Newcastle suffered their second defeat in three matches.

After their respective FA Cup quarter-finals, Chelsea will be aiming to extend their unbeaten run to five in the league as they play relegation battlers Burnley at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, March 30, while Newcastle will be hoping to return to winning ways when they play fellow European contenders West Ham in a crucial game at St James’ Park on the same date.