Chelsea move ahead in title race
IT IS no longer a case of alphabetical order at the top of the Premier League, with Chelsea pushing two points ahead of Manchester City after victory over Newcastle United.
The visitors looked threatening until they were subdued by goals from Oscar and the excellent Diego Costa.
It is three games without a victory for Newcastle caretaker manager John Carver, and as well as his team played in the first half, his chances of taking the post on a permanent basis received another blow.
Without a manager, out of the cups and with less to play for, it was nonetheless Newcastle who made the early running.
Remy Cabella was prominent. He set off on a superb, slaloming run into the Chelsea penalty area, only for John Terry to deflect his curling goal-bound shot for a corner. Then Cabella set off on another run, only to be tripped by Branislav Ivanovic. Yoan Gouffran’s powerful free kick went through the Chelsea defensive wall — only for Petr Cech to beat it out.
It looked as though Chelsea had been knocked out of their stride by the 5-3 defeat at Tottenham
Cech was in goal because of a damaged thumb suffered by Thibaut Courtois, but it was then another Belgian, Eden Hazard, who broke for Chelsea. He found Diego Costa, who surprisingly elected to return the pass rather than shoot and Jack Colback hacked clear. Soon after, Oscar flashed a shot wide.
It looked as though Chelsea had been knocked out of their stride by the 5-3 defeat at Tottenham and maybe it had also led to Gary Cahill being dropped, with Kurt Zouma partnering John Terry in central defence, where the lively Ayoze Perez kept them occupied.
Again, Cabella, who was beginning to run the game, went close, collecting possession, easily beating Terry and then drawing a fine save from Cech.
After that, Moussa Sissoko ran down the left, again Terry was easily evaded and the midfielder’s fierce, rising drive cannoned off the post.
But quick thinking by Willian fashioned a breakthrough. The Brazilian won and immediately took a corner to find Ivanovic, who crossed low for Oscar to steer a side-footed shot that Tim Krul, back in goal for Newcastle after 10 games out injured, could not keep out.
Chelsea were suddenly sharper and pushed on. Such was their dominance that a second goal came with Costa starting and finishing a move in which he profited from Oscar’s clever flick to run across the area and shoot back across Krul into the net.