Newcastle Hold On To Deny Chelsea Top Spot

Carlo Ancelotti is under intense pressure at Chelsea. Stories have been circulating for the past few days of Ray Wilkins departure and his launch of legal action against the club for unfair dismissal. Wilkins was a very popular figure at Stamford Bridge, with both players and staff.  This combined with Ancelotti admitting in midweek that he was not in complete control of the club has only increased speculation that he might leave the club in the near future, with the papers mentioning Pep Guardiola as a possible replacement.

Chelsea went in to this game 3 points behind Manchester United after their 7-1 demolition of Blackburn Rovers on Saturday. Newcastle have been impressive, if not erratic this season. With a 3-0 loss to United on the opening day of the season to a 6-0 victory of Aston Villa, consistency is what is needed if Newcastle is to survive relegation this season. The same can be said for Chelsea who have lost three of the last four games in the league this season and were desperately hoping not to make three defeats in a row since 1999.

The first half began brightly for Newcastle with a 2^nd minute free kick nearly found the net as Ameobi’s shot flew wide after Taylor’s header was palmed away by Cech into Ameobi’s path. 4 minutes later and the home side had their goal. Mikel lost possession in midfield but Alex recovered only to play a disastrous back-pass to Carroll who prodded the ball past Cech. Chelsea then began to threaten with Drogba forcing a decent save from Krul in the 19^th minute before Kalou equalized after being fed by Malouda, cutting inside and seeing his strike deflect off Taylor and beat Krul.

Chelsea were dominant in possession for much of the second half without really threatening. Newcastle’s only meaningful attacks were coming from set-pieces with Cech looking nervous at coming for high balls. Drogba had a goal disallowed after he handled the ball inside the area before firing the ball in off the post. Chelsea continued to push forward but Newcastle held on to heap further pressure on Ancelotti and his stuttering Chelsea side.