After a short break for the FA Cup fixtures, the Premier League was back up and running. Chelsea were keen to avenge their embarrassing away loss to Spurs and there was no better place to get back to winning ways than Stamford Bridge.
There were 2 changes from the defeat at White Hart Lane with Petr Cech replacing Thibaut Courtois who was dealing with a thumb injury and Kurt Zouma replacing Gary Cahill in defence.
Zouma had been pushing for more Premier League appearances and after an impressive performance against Watford, the 20 year old French defender started his first game in the League.
This game was the 648th appearance for our captain John Terry and he is now our 3rd joint all time capped player.
The game did not start as we would’ve hoped with Newcastle largely dominating for the first half. Chelsea were lackadaisical and did not show enough intensity in the first half.
The first chance of the game came for Newcastle and the impressive Remy Cabella, who had been lively early in the game made Cech palm away a left footed curler destined for the corner of the goal.
Cech was forced to make another save on his return to the side as he parried Yoan Goufrann’s shot only for it to be cleared soon after.
Newcastle settled into the game very well and had arguably their best chance of the game when Moussa Sissoko marauded past John Terry, leaving him for dead only for his shot to hit the upright.
Cesar Azpilicueta pulled up with a groin injury after stretching it in a challenge with Remy Cabella. The Spaniard could not carry on and was subbed off for Felipe Luis.
Chelsea also had a chance with Eden Hazard closing down Janmaat in his own half. Hazard passed through to Costa who surprisingly decided not to take the shot but square instead to Willian, this was intercepted and the chance was gone.
There was a penalty appeal for Chelsea. Diego Costa’s cross was stopped by Collocini seemingly with his hand but Chelsea protests were waved away by referee Roger East leaving Mourinho furious.
Chelsea, luckily got the breakthrough late in the first half wiyh sharp work by Willian who took the corner short to Ivanovic on the byline his low cross met Oscar who passed the ball into the back of the net to give the blues the lead.
This was the Brazilian’s 4th goal of the season and Chelsea went into the break, fortunately 1-0.
In the 2nd half, Chelsea were raring to go from the whistle. Surely Mourinho wasn’t pleased with his sides tempo in the first half despite the lead.
Chelsea extended their lead in the 59th minute after a superb passage of play. Eden Hazard was yet to make an impact in the game so far played a clever scooped ball into Oscar who’s fantastic first time back heel went into the path of Diego Costa who dummied a man and slotted home with great composure to score his 15th goal of the season, now making him the top goalscorer in the league ahead of Sergio Aguero.
Dominance began to show for the league leaders and there was now a comfortable lead for Chelsea as they began to show the performance we all expected.
Kurt Zouma was magnificent in his first start. He did certainly not look like a 20 year old and proved he is capable to play at centre half for the first team whether for cover or as first choice.
Not many chances came after the 2nd goal, a great run by Costa in on goal was cleared by Collocini although Costa’s shot did look to be going wide,
Chelsea extended their lead at the top of the table after Manchester City drew away at Everton. This is great news for the Blues as there is now a 2 point gap between Chelsea and City at the top of the table.
MOTM – Oscar. Grabbed a goal and a fabulous assist and was beginning to show signs of the great playmaker he can be.
