Newcastle 1-0 Chelsea: Battling Mags go third as Joe Willock stunner seals win!
Newcastle confirmed third place in the Premier League heading into the World Cup break after a Joe Willock stunner secured a 1-0 victory for the Toon over an out of form Chelsea side.
There were few chances to be had between either side, with both teams struggling to find space in the penalty box, but a moment of magic from last week's goalscorer was enough to separate the two.
Despite being below our best, we looked the better side and proved once again that we can win ugly if needed, pulling off our fifth straight Premier League win and yet another clean sheet as Graham Potter's side found no way through our black and white wall.
Howe made two changes from our 4-1 win over Southampton last Sunday, as Chris Wood came in for Callum Wilson - who was only fit enough for the bench after training on his own all week - and Joelinton replaced Jacob Murphy on the left side of our attack.
Chelsea handed a debut to 18-year-old Lewis Hall and there was no Sterling, Aubameyang, Silva, Havertz or Cucurella in their starting 11.
It was a disjoined start to the first half. Fabian Schar went down with a head injury after giving away an early foul and Ruben Loftus-Cheek also pulled up moments later, seeing Brazil international Thiago Silva replace the latter just six minutes in.
We were pressing well and looked bang up for it in that sense, although we hadn't mustered our first shot until a lovely run from Willock ended up with Almiron; who blasted a left-footed volley over the bar just after the 15 minute mark.
Wood wasn't offering enough. He was joining the press, but his hold up play needed to be better, with too many simple balls bouncing off the big Kiwi as neither side really asserted their dominance on a game that felt there to be won.
Broja had the first effort on goals just before the half hour mark, although that was easily claimed by Pope before Jorginho became the first player to go into the book after a blatant trip on Bruno. Botman then made a vital interception five minutes later, flicking a cross destined for Broja out for a corner just as Chelsea threatened to create the game's biggest opening.
There was a penalty shout for Newcastle just before the break as Burn’s low cut back struck Chalobah’s arm, but the referee waved it away and VAR did too. The resultant corner was header way over and the half-time whistle went. 0-0.
The first chance of the half fell to Newcastle five minutes in as a looping cross was headed back towards the penalty spot by Joelinton, but Bruno’s effort was saved well from Mendy and the rebounded shot from Longstaff was blocked by the Chelsea defence.
We started to pile on the pressure nearly 15 minutes into the second period with a delightful cross from Willock down the left-wing which was put behind for a corner with some last ditch defending from Chelsea.
Chelsea has their first chance of the half 20 minutes in as Trippier gave the ball away poorly in the box, leaving Gallagher open to take a shot that was well saved by Pope and put out for a corner.
The Toon finally broke the deadlock midway through the half with a beautiful ball over the top from Joelinton which reached the stride of Almiron who did brilliantly to cut inside and dribble past Koulibaly before the ball was taken off him by Willock and struck perfectly into the top right corner.
Potter, clearly unhappy with his sides performance so far, made three big changes with less than 20 minutes to go - Ziyech, Cucurella and Havertz all came on for the Blues.
Newcastle first change of the evening came up too as Chris Wood made way for the in-form and World Cup blind Callum Wilson after 75 minutes.
With 10 minutes left to go in the game, Newcastle had started to drop deeper and deeper, inviting pressure from the Chelsea forward line but, again, the visitors struggled to create anything concrete.
Sven Botman was forced off with an injury and replaced by Matt Targett on the 86th minute after he received treatment multiple times, shifting Dan Burn into the other centre-half position.
Despite their best efforts, we remained resilient defensively and the away side failed to even register a single shot on target following Willock’s screamer.
The result makes it five victories in a row for Eddie Howe’s high-flying Magpies and a European push could well be on the cards if we can keep this kind of form up heading into the new year.
Next up, a World Cup break, training camp in Saudi and return to action a Leicester in six weeks time!
STARTING XI: Pope - Trippier, Schar, Botman, Burn - Bruno, Longstaff, Willock - Almiron, Wood, Joelinton
SUBS: Darlow, Lascelles, Shelvey, Wilson, Saint-Maximin, Targett, Manquillo, Murphy, Anderson.
