Match Report: Chelsea 2-0 Newcastle

Match Report: Chelsea 2-0 Newcastle

It turned out to be a comfortable victory in the end, as first half goals from Eden Hazard & Fernando Torres ensured that we maintained our perfect start to the Premier League campaign, beating Newcastle by two goals to nil.

First half 

Despite the fact that Newcastle were unbeaten in their last 4 league visits to Stamford Bridge, it was Chelsea who started the match in a more confident fashion, taking the attack to the visitors. While Chelsea had the lions share of possession for a while & did manage to create a few chances (including a long-range drive from Jon Obi Mikel, a player who is yet to score a League goal for Chelsea), Newcastle weren't too troubled & were in fact happy to sit deep. Eden Hazard, who has already impressed for Chelsea, managed to get a shot away in the 14th minute, but the shot was straight at Krul. The game livened up when Torres got the ball outside the penalty area & dribbled past one Newcastle defender before being brought down by Vurnon Anita. Penalty. With Lampard on the bench, Hazard took the penalty, & calmly converted to score his first competitive goal for Chelsea. 1-0.

After that goal, it was all Chelsea. Torres in particular was looking lively, & looked to have won a free-kick when he was brought down by Colocini, only for Phil Dowd to wave "play on". He also booked Torres for dissent. Shortly after the incident, however, Torres finally found the net. A delightful one-two with Hazard gave him enough space to shoot, & he fired the ball into the top corner. 2-0. Chelsea ended the first half as the better team.

Second half 

A largely uneventful second half saw Newcastle attack more, as they were now chasing a 2-goal deficit. Ben Arfa managed to get into a decent position outside the box before unleashing a shot that went just wide.

The second half saw a complete change of style from both teams. It was Newcastle who were constantly attacking, while Chelsea simply sat deep, looking for that 3rd goal to well & truly kill the game. Cech was called into action when Cisse had a chance, but he was able to save quite comfortably. That was the only chance created for a while, as both teams now looked to keep things under control. Not that Chelsea didn't have their chance to kill off the game. 2 free-kicks were won that could have been converted, but first David Luiz & then Raul Meireles sent their efforts well over the bar.

With the clock running down, Newcastle were desperate for a goal. Demba Ba came close in the 83rd minute, but Cech did well to save the striker's low shot. Frank Lampard was introduced towards the end of the game to bring some stability to the midfield. Luiz suffered a slight knock on the head while clearing a cross that Ba looked likely to meet, & that was the final chance of the game. Chelsea were able to run down the clock, & secure another 3 points.

TweetFollow @CFC360Official