Newcastle United 1-2 Chelsea: 5 Talking Points
Chelsea edged past Newcastle United at St James' Park to make it three wins out of three games to kick-start life under Maurizio Sarri. The Blues were made to work relentlessly in order to maintain their 100 percent record in the Premier League this season as the Magpies resorted to a dull 'backs to the wall' approach from the start.
Rafa Benitez's men followed his instructions from the get go and it took Chelsea 75 minutes and a poor decision from referee Paul Tierney to finally break the deadlock through Eden Hazard. The match official awarded Chelsea a penalty after an incident involving Fabian Schar and Marcos Alonso but replay suggested that the defender had clearly got the ball when he lunged in for a challenge.
Hazard made no mistake from the spot and duly converted the spot-kick before Newcastle earned a lifeline through substitute Joselu, who scored with a glancing header at the near post after David Luiz was caught napping and unaware of the threat.
However, Chelsea restored their lead just four minutes later after DeAndre Yedlin, who served an elbow to Olivier Giroud's face during the buildup to the equalizer, toe poked a shot from Alonso into his own net to complete a bizarre turn of events.
The win propelled Chelsea to second place in the table, only behind Liverpool on goal difference, with nine points while Newcastle's slump at home continues and the loss could be a cause for concern. Without further delay, let's take a closer look at the major talking points from the game:
#1 Chelsea lift the curse at St James' Park
The encounter between the two sides was a dull affair at least up until the 75th minute but things escalated very quickly afterwards as the game witnessed plenty of drama in the dying minutes. The win will be a huge boost to Chelsea's confidence and they have lifted a bit of a curse at this venue with the encouraging result.
Prior to kick-off, the last time Chelsea won at St James' Park was back in 2011 and before Sarri arrived on the shores of Tyneside, six different managers had tried and failed in securing all three points away to Newcastle.
Perhaps a more recent memory for some fans would be the 3-0 humbling Chelsea endured on the final day of last season but the list is enormous and it is hopefully destined to remain intact without any further woeful additions.