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Chelsea beat Newcastle United 1-0 in their Premier League clash at Stamford Bridge on Saturday. Kai Havertz scored the only goal of the match in the 89th minute. The win means that the Blues remain in the third position in the league table with 59 points from 28 matches. Whereas Newcastle United are 14th with 31 points from 28 matches.
The win further boosted Chelsea’s chances of finishing inside the top four of the Premier League this season.
On that note, let’s take a look at the three factors that stood out in today’s match:
#1 Chelsea dominated the first half, but didn't have any shot on target
The Blues started the match with a 4-3-3 formation. Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudiger were the two centre-backs, Trevor Chalobah and Malang Sarr played as the two fullbacks and Jorginho was the defensive midfielder.
N’Golo Kante started in an advanced role in central midfield alongside Mason Mount. Meanwhile, Hakim Ziyech and Timo Werner started on the right and left flanks respectively. Kai Havertz was the lone striker for the Blues.
Chelsea dominated the match from the very beginning and had a total grip on it for the first 15-20 minutes. However, they could not enter the opposition penalty box frequently and only ended up playing around it. Kante repeatedly carried the ball into the opposition penalty box with his speedy runs, but lacked support upfront.
Moreover, there were hardly any overlapping runs from either of the Chelsea fullbacks. Both Chalobah and Sarr are more comfortable playing in the central defense. It was obvious that they were not enjoying their respective new roles, especially in the attacking side of the game.
However, Rudiger was good going upfront and delivered some forward passes. Mount tried to combine with Werner through the inside-left channel. Ziyech tried to play some crosses into the box, but their efforts were not enough to break the deadlock.
#2 Newcastle United tried to break the shackles and troubled the home side with their high-press
After suffering an onslaught in the first quarter, Newcastle United gradually started making their presence felt. They started with a 3-4-3 formation and initially employed the tactic of playing long balls to their onrushing forwards from their own half.
However, as the match progressed, Newcastle started increasing numbers in the opposition half and their forwards began to press high. This strategy troubled the Chelsea defenders and they ended up committing fouls in the defensive third.
As a result, they earned quite a few free-kicks inside the opposition half, but could not make proper use of them. However, the Magpies had to wait more than half an hour to earn their first corner kick. At the fag end of the first half, Miguel Almiron’s volley was saved quite creditably by Edouard Mendy, the Chelsea goalkeeper.
On the other hand, the home side kept making sporadic attacks into the opposition penalty box. Havertz and Werner saw their shots miss the target by small distances. The first half ended in a stalemate.
#3 Chelsea made substitutions and switched formation to finally find the elusive goal
The Blues started the second half intensely as well. Werner almost earned a penalty when he was tripped by Newcastle goalkeeper Martin Dubravka. However, the German forward was already in an offside position when the ball was played to him.
Werner was soon replaced by Mateo Kovacic and Romelu Lukaku replaced Mount. The home side then played with Lukaku, Havertz and Ziyech upfront.
Kovacic’s introduction added impetus to the Blues midfield. Still, the absence of overlapping runs from the fullbacks and lack of penetration from the forwards kept adding to the frustrations.
Matters could have been made worse by Chalobah’s challenge on Jacob Murphy inside the penalty box. However, VAR decided that it was a legitimate challenge and the home side survived a scare.
The Blues kept missing a proper wide man on the left as Lukaku was positioned more centrally. Subsequently, Thomas Tuchel introduced Christian Pulisic in place of Sarr. Chelsea switched to a 3-5-2 with Pulisic and Ziyech playing as the left and right wing-backs respectively.
Just as it seemed like the match was veering towards a draw, Jorgino played a lofted cross from the middle third to Havertz inside the box. The German controlled the ball with a superb first touch and finished coolly with his left foot past Dubravka.
