Lampard in FRANK WON’T GO OVERBOARD
FRANK LAMPARD has Chelsea shaping up to be genuine title contenders – not that he’ll admit it.
Swatting away Newcastle’s predictably tame challenge isn’t, perhaps, the strongest barometer of their credentials.
But such was their dominance and class, especially in the first half, that they hardly broke sweat to rack up their fifth straight win.
This was their sixth clean sheet in seven games with just one goal conceded in more than 10 and a half hours of football. The only blemish on this season has been a home defeat to Liverpool.
Little wonder next Sunday’s Premier League clash with Spurs has the look of a shakedown for two contenders looking to mix it with the Reds and Man City this season.
Meanwhile, Steve Bruce’s Newcastle have now become a Premier League irrelevance, bossed by bigger clubs and unable to put up a proper fight.
By 2.30pm Chelsea sat top of the Premier League.
Could they stay there? Are they ruthless enough in front of goal?
Lampard, whose side are unbeaten in 12 games, is playing it cool.
He said: “It is pleasing but I’m not going to get excited about being top of the table for five minutes. It’s time to stay humble and know it’s a long race.
“We had control and penetration but we have to not get complacent. We have to keep making the dangerous pass. There are lessons to become better.
“We played well in patches. The Premier League is tough and relentless.
“We opened them up enough to get two or three by half-time but we saw the game out. It is good form. Clean sheets are good.
“Timo Werner had a couple of chances that didn’t go in but he was a real threat.”
The first period was stunningly one-sided – Newcastle made 67 passes all half while Blues centre-back Kurt Zouma made 65 himself.
Yet it was only a one-goal lead, Federico Fernandez bundling Mason Mount’s deep cross into his own net in the 10th minute.
By then Karl Darlow had already made two good saves from Werner’s shot and Tammy Abraham’s header.
Werner was blocked from scoring by Jamal
Lascelles, who injured himself and was subbed. And he was wasteful when clean through after the break, squaring weakly instead of shooting.
However, the German was lethal in setting up Chelsea’s second goal in the 65th minute.
He got the ball midway in his own half and showed blistering pace to blow away Fernandez and Sean Longstaff and burst towards the penalty area around a lame challenge from sub Fabian Schar.
Werner squared perfectly for Abraham who slotted home off the post for his fifth of the season and third in as many club games.
Abraham said: “Top? No pressure. That is where we want to be. Hopefully we can keep getting three points and stay there.
“We didn’t let the international break distract us. We came out all guns blazing. These games are tricky being 1- 0 up and not getting the second g oal. We
kept
confident.” It was game over bar Longstaff hit the bar with a 25-yarder.
Newcastle have a great tactic of dragging decent opposition down to their level and the frustration of Toon fans is mounting because they are being served up a team set up to have 10 men behind the ball against decent sides.
It makes for uncompetitive, tedious viewing and gives fans little hope of a shock or excitement.
Bruce said: “We arguably didn’t do enough. We got off to an awful start. We were a little too deep and that’s sometimes the problem when you play with a back five. We defended too deeply.”
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