The Chronicle (South Tyneside and Durham)
Exciting peek into future for Magpies in final game
NEWCASTLE United ended the season in fourth place following a 1-1 draw against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on the final day of a remarkable campaign.
Anthony Gordon opened the scoring for Newcastle before the quarter-hour mark with his first ever goal for the club before Kieran Trippier put through his own net in the 27th minute.
Here are five things we learned from the game.
EDDIE HOWE’S SHOUTS SHOW THERE ARE NO DEAD GAMES
Newcastle’s place in the top four was already secured, but there was still plenty to play for on the final day. Third place was still up for grabs if the Magpies bettered Manchester United’s result against Fulham at Old Trafford, while this trip to the capital also offered Newcastle the chance to send out one final statement. Newcastle, after all, had only ever won one Premier League game at Stamford Bridge and that was way back in 2012.
Newcastle may have been without key players like Nick Pope, Joelinton and Joe Willock, but the visitors were never going to have a better chance to end that hoodoo against a Chelsea side enduring their worst ever Premier League season. Howe, tellingly, made just four changes from the side that sealed Champions League qualification against Leicester City last time out as Martin Dubravka, Matt Targett, Anthony Gordon and Allan Saint-maximin all came into the starting line-up.
Chelsea may have dominated possession – 65% all told – but Newcastle had a host of chances to win this remarkably open game. Miguel Almiron, alone, had three huge opportunities in front of goal in the space of just 10 minutes before halftime but the Paraguay international, damningly, only managed to hit the target on one occasion.
It was Chelsea, and Raheem Sterling, who repeatedly went close after the break, yet even in the final half of a long season, Howe and assistant Jason Tindall were unrelenting on the touchline as they demanded the players upped the intensity. Nothing quite summed up the standards at the club now. There are no dead games.
ANTHONY GORDON OFFERS GLIMPSE OF FUTURE
It may have been an end-of-season clash, but Anthony Gordon won’t forget May 28, 2023. It was the date the mid-season signing scored his first goal for the club. Although Gordon was not playing in his preferred position, out wide, the midseason signing impressed as a rightsided central midfielder and opened the scoring on Sunday.
There were 13 minutes on the clock when Fabian Schar’s cross field pass picked out Allan Saintmaximin and the Frenchman slipped in Elliot Anderson down the left, who swung a cross into the box.
Gordon gambled with a late, welltimed run into the box that his former manager, Frank Lampard, would have been proud of in his own playing days, and slotted home first-time to send the away end wild.
It felt like a glimpse of the future. This is a young player who will only get better and benefit from his first full pre-season under Howe.
CHELSEA TAUNT CAN’T HIDE THE TRUTH
Newcastle fans did not want this season to end, but they signed off in style, with the Geordie Armada arriving by boat in the London sunshine. Regardless of whether their side won, or not, 3,000 Newcastle fans were going to have a party and they did not stop singing on Sunday – even serenading Eddie Howe and assistant Jason Tindall to the tune of ‘Rockin’ All Over the World’ for 10 minutes straight in the second half.
Chelsea fans may have briefly taunted: “Champions of Europe – you’ll never sing that!’ Yet, once upon a time, those same supporters would never have thought Newcastle would finish above their side – let alone 27 points clear in fourth place. It is Newcastle, rather than Chelsea, who will be sitting at Europe’s top table next season.
DUBRAVKA IMPRESSES ON AFTERNOON OF POTENTIAL GOODBYES
You had to go back to the final day of last season for the last time Martin
Dubravka started a Premier League game. However, the Newcastle goalkeeper got his chance after Nick Pope under went end of season surgery after dislocating a handful of fingers over the course of the campaign.
Although Newcastle dominated the opening stages – Alexander Isak went close either side of Anthony Gordon’s opener – the visitors were indebted to Dubravka in the 13th minute after the ‘keeper clawed Thiago Silva’s header off the line.
Dubravka also ensured Newcastle went into half-time level just before the break when the veteran kept out Raheem Sterling’s effort.
It was a timely reminder that the 34-year-old still has something to offer.
Dubravka will get further opportunities in the cups next season, but it remains to be seen if the Slovakia international decides to move elsewhere to get the regular game time he needs. Howe may have predicted that 95% of the squad will still be at the club next season, but this may yet be the final occasion one or two players get the chance to applaud the fans after the game.
It could prove a goodbye of sorts for the likes of Jamal Lewis, who made his first Premier
League appearance since October as a late substitute.
LEWIS MILEY ENJOYS A DEBUT TO REMEMBER
A Premier League debut on the final day of the season can only mean one thing: recognition for a talented youngster. Lewis Miley, pictured inset, certainly fits that description.
Having been pulled out of the England squad for the under-17 European Championships Miley has been a regular in match day squads in recent weeks, following Sean Longstaff and Joe Willock’s respective injuries, but this has been no emergency option by any means. Miley is there on merit having trained with the first team for much of the season and it says a lot about the 17-year-old’s ability and mentality that he has not looked out of place. You can see why Miley was handed his top-flight debut as a 75th-minute substitute at Stamford Bridge – less than a month after the ink had dried on the midfielder’s first professional contract.
Miley was roared onto the field by the away end, who then chanted: ‘Lewis Miley – he’s one of our own!’ It was a special moment, but it nearly got even better for the Geordie, who clipped the crossbar with a first-time effort from outside the area a few minutes later.