Chelsea 1-0 Newcastle United, Premier League: Post-match reaction, ratings

Chelsea made a decent start to the game, but found it tough going for much of the first half. Newcastle defended well deep when needed and pressed high even better, showing all the usual hallmarks of an Eddie Howe team coming to Stamford Bridge.

Other than a couple chances around the half-hour mark, Werner and Havertz putting in fantastic balls across the box that didn’t get the request tap-in, and a Mount free kick into the side-netting, the only incident of note was an aerial clash between Havertz and Burn, which was trying to get talked into a red card for an elbow from Havertz.

The second half continued in much the same vein, though Chelsea almost had a penalty when Werner got tripped by the goalkeeper. Unfortunately, he had strayed a few inches offside on the pass through.

A double-change at the hour mark created a bit more urgency, and Havertz came close from a Ziyech cross as we headed into the final quarter of an hour.

But just when it looked like Chelsea would not be able to find the breakthrough, we did. Jorginho putting in a great ball to find Havertz, whose ridiculously glorious first-touch set him up for an easy(-looking) finish in the final minute.

Carefree.

• Four changes from midweek, with Rüdiger, Sarr, Kanté, and Ziyech coming in and Silva, Saúl, Kovačić, and Azpi dropping out, the latter through injury
• Change in formation, too, going to a back-four, either a 4-2-2-2 or 4-3-3 depending on where Mount was playing. Ziyech also tracked back on the right frequently when needed.
• Straight swaps in Lukaku for Werner and Kova for Mount at the hour-mark. Pulisic on for the final 12 for Sarr, with Chelsea going to a back-three
• Five PL wins in a row for Chelsea, with 1 goal conceded
• Next up: Champions League Rof16 second leg, Lille away
• KTBFFH

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