Blues double swoop on Magpies
Written By: Robert Halter
Following on from a 2-1 home victory over Tottenham Hotspur, the Magpies made the long journey from the North East of England to face London opponents again, this time Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, where the Blues topped the Premiership for the first time since 2010, after opening the season with a two game winning start. After an uninspiring opening to the match, in the thirteenth minute, Eden Hazard had the first strike at goal which was easily collected by Tim Krul in the Magpies goal, after Jon Obi Mikel had created the opportunity. Fine work by the Blues, four minutes later, saw Raul Meireles pump the ball forward which was touched down from Fernando Torres’s chest for the advancing Ryan Bertrand to strike the ball into Krul. But on twenty minutes, Chelsea were awarded a penalty, after Vurnon Anita clipped Torres in the box, and up stepped Hazard to drill his spot kick past Krul, into the bottom left corner. On the half hour mark, Branislav Ivanovic powered a header into Krul, following Ashley Cole’s cross from the left side of the pitch. In the second minute of first half stoppage time, the Blues brigade struck again, after a crafty back heel by Hazard, and on hand was Torres to smash the ball into the right side of the goal, to send London’s SW6 rocking, going into the half time break as Chelsea took a two goal advantage. The Magpies tested Petr Cech for the first time on fifty nine minutes, when Yohan Cabaye’s pass deflected off Ivanovic and Demba Ba picked up the rebound to strike the ball directly at Cech, but there was no route back into the game for Newcastle United. A fine run by Bertrand on seventy nine minutes, was equalled by his rasping strike which flashed wide of the right post as Chelsea were on the ascendancy once again. As the skies opened up once more and the rain poured down, Ba saw another effort slip away for the Magpies as his effort found Cech’s reach for the second time in the match. Ba was again in the thick of things when a clash of heads with David Luiz at the end, left the Blues defender requiring a bandage but despite his war wound, the battle had been won at the Bridge to secure maximum points for the Blues from their first three fixtures.