COOL, PALM & COLLECTED
Cole proves his worth to Pochettino yet again as he fires Chelsea to victory & piles pressure on Howe
THE Palm D’OR celebration was to be expected from the coolest player on the pitch.
Cole Palmer has become Chelsea’s go-to man for any crisis – and he answered the call yet again last night at Stamford Bridge.
The Chelsea forward, nicknamed Cold Palmer for his ice-cold mentality, has now got 19 goal involvements this season and has comfortably become Mauricio Pochettino’s most important player.
Palmer, who has 11 goals and eight assists in the Premier League, celebrates by rubbing his arms as if to get himself warm and there is no way that Gareth Southgate would not have been impressed as the England manager watched from the Stamford Bridge stands.
The 21-year-old helped set up Nicolas Jackson’s opener and got one himself before substitute Mykhailo Mudryk rounded off the victory with a beautiful finish that gave a welcome glimpse of his potential.
It was another bad night for the Toon who are on a run of 11 away games without a clean sheet and have lost seven of their last nine matches on the road.
Newcastle boss Eddie Howe saw Anthony Gordon go off injured in the first half as the problems continue to mount ahead of their FA Cup quarterfinal at champions Manchester City on Saturday, effectively a make-or-break game for their season.
Howe just cannot catch a break while, for once, it went well for Pochettino (left), with Chelsea’s joint owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali watching on from the stands.
There is no doubt the pressure has been ramped up on Pochettino. Chelsea fans voiced their frustrations with the manager after last week’s draw at Brentford which set this contest up as a game they could not afford to lose.
Former Spurs manager Pochettino has tried every which way to deflect criticism away from the players but the only real solution is to produce on the pitch. And last night they dug deep to do just that.
Chelsea were ahead after just six minutes. It was Palmer who started the move by spraying the ball wide to Malo Gusto and the right-back’s cross was only
half-cleared by Newcastle defender Sven Botman.
When Palmer smashed a shot towards goal, Jackson instinctively flicked the ball into the corner beyond keeper Martin Dubravka.
Incredibly, Chelsea have not lost a Premier League game when Jackson has scored – this victory made it five wins on top of two draws. He is rapidly becoming their good-luck charm.
It got even worse for Newcastle when Gordon hobbled off, his chances of an England call-up rapidly disappearing.
But Toon fought back and their equaliser came after 42 minutes. Bruno Guimaraes won the ball in midfield and found Alexander Isak who underlined his quality with a curling shot into the far corner.
But even when things are not going well, it is Palmer who can change a game for Chelsea. Moises Caicedo fed Enzo Fernandez and his lay-off set up Palmer who drove forward before unleashing a low shot which flew through Botman’s legs and into the bottom corner of the Toon net.
England outcast Raheem Sterling had an effort blocked on the line by Dan Burn when he really should have scored but Chelsea got a third after 76 minutes.
Jackson raced down the left on a penetrating counter-attack and found Conor Gallagher in the insideleft position. But jetheeled Mudryk took the ball of his toe and nutmegged Fabian Schar before rounding Dubravka and slotting into the net.
Newcastle got a late consolation with substitute Jacob Murphy smashing a screamer into the net from 20 yards in the 90th minute but Chelsea held their nerve for a much-needed win.