Chelsea cemented their grip on fourth place in the Premier League as Willian’s sublime strike sealed a 2-1 win over struggling Newcastle yesterday.
Maurizio Sarri’s side took the lead through Pedro’s early goal, but Ciaran Clark snatched a shock equaliser before half-time.
With Chelsea fans beginning to lose patience at their team’s latest spluttering home display, Willian lifted the mood in the nick of time with his superb second-half curler. Chelsea have won five of their last seven league matches and sit six points clear of fifth-placed Arsenal, who lost at West Ham earlier on Saturday.
But, while Sarri will be relieved to see Chelsea remain in control of the race to qualify for the Champions League, this far from convincing performance raised fresh questions about the former Napoli manager’s tactics.
Labouring to beat third-bottom Newcastle showed how far Chelsea have to go to bridge the gap in class to leaders Liverpool and champions Manchester City.
Newcastle find themselves in the relegation zone as a result of wins for Southampton and Burnley and another winter of discontent is brewing for the Magpies.
They have won only once in their last nine league games and fans again called for controversial owner Mike Ashley to sell up.
Tuesday’s 1-0 defeat against Tottenham in the League Cup semi-final first leg was the latest display of attacking impotence from misfiring Chelsea, who had failed to score in their last two home league games.
But it took only nine minutes for the Blues to go in front as Newcastle’s five-man defence was carved open with ease.
A fine long pass from Chelsea defender David Luiz caught Clark flat-footed. Pedro timed his run behind Clark perfectly and held off the centre-back’s weak attempt to recover as he lofted a delicate chip over Newcastle keeper Martin Dubravka for his seventh goal of the season.
Chelsea dominated possession in the first half-hour, but they switched off at the back as Newcastle almost snatched an equaliser. Salomon Rondon flicked a header towards Ayoze Perez and he accelerated away from Antonio Rudiger, only to shoot woefully wide with just Kepa Arrizabalaga to beat.
Chelsea’s Willian celebrates scoring against Newcastle yesterday.
