Chelsea Eden Hazard paid victory to club, shock to Newcastle united

Chelsea 3-1 Newcastle United Premier League

Chelsea played with controlled aggression to stamp out Newcastle United’s early attempts at insurrection at Stamford Bridge, but there were no touchline histrionics from Antonio Conte this time.

The Spaniard could count on the undying adoration from the boisterous following in the away end, though, where his name was being sung with admiring passion even before Newcastle silenced the locals in the 12th minute. Teams managed by a manager of Benítez’s perceptiveness can never be underestimated, for all that Newcastle’s early promise has faded in recent weeks, and the visitors
began with impressive ambition, surprising the champions by pressing high and taking the game to them instead of parking the bus from the first minute.

 Mikel Merino had the first chance, shooting straight at Thibaut Courtois from 18 yards, and the indecision in the Chelsea defence that led to Gayle’s messy goal could be attributed to Newcastle’s initial exuberance.

Gayle started the move, leaping to get his head to a long punt forward, and Conte must have been alarmed by his side’s failure to react, with N’Golo Kanté too meek in his attempt to mop up and Marcos Alonso made everything worse with an ill-advised back-pass. Courtois bravely charged out to deny Jacob Murphy but Chelsea’s goalkeeper had been pulled out of position and Gayle stroked the loose ball into the empty net.

After a slight wobble, however, Chelsea absorbed the blow. Gayle had put Newcastle in a similarly commanding position at Old Trafford two weeks ago, only for Manchester United to respond with four unanswered goals, and the hosts made sure that the striker’s enterprise went to waste again.

Conte has used a 3-5-1-1 system this season. The formation is designed to coax the best out of Hazard, granting him the freedom to roam from a central position and enhance his goalscoring threat, and it was arduous for Newcastle, who strained to track the Belgian’s slippery movement and to contain the brilliance of his dribbles. Hazard relished tormenting the visitors and, having been denied once by Darlow, he settled Chelsea down in the 21st minute.

Newcastle’s defending had become worryingly ragged. Andreas Christensen sent a looping header against the left post and the team in black and white stripes had not fallen back into shape when César Azpilicueta whipped in another menacing cross. Florian Lejeune stretched to divert the ball away from Morata, who surely would have scored, but Hazard followed up, driving a bouncing shot past Darlow.

The home fans relaxed and it was only a matter of time before Chelsea scored again. Victor Moses, making his first start since suffering a hamstring injury two months ago, laced a cross into the six-yard box from the right and Morata headed in his 10th goal of the season, Darlow taken out of the picture by the quality of the delivery.

It was a fine way for Chelsea to respond to adversity and Moses was instrumental in their third goal, earning a penalty thanks to Matt Ritchie’s desperate tackle with 16 minutes left. Hazard dinked it down the middle to give his team a precious cushion, not that Conte stopped barking out instructions until the final whistle allowed him to relax.