Newcastle beaten late on at Stamford Bridge
Newcastle United’s impressive 9-match Premier League unbeaten run came to an end on Sunday afternoon as Chelsea grabbed a late winner in London.
Eddie Howe was without the likes of Shelvey, Joelinton and Willock so Bruno teamed up with Longstaff and Murphy in midfield. Ryan Fraser and Alan Saint-Maximin were among the substitutes.
The first half saw little in terms of goal mouth action and Newcastle grew into the game, the biggest talking point of the opening 45 minutes coming when Havertz challenged Dan Burn in the air with the Newcastle defender coming away with a cut to his head. Havertz received a yellow card for the elbow when on another day it could easily have been red.
Newcastle continued to keep the European Champions at bay in the second half and had strong appeals for a penalty turned down when Chalobah appeared to pull down Murphy in the box.
Going into the closing stages of the match Chelsea had only registered one effort on target with Havertz heading straight at Dubravka but with a minute to go the German forward expertly controlled a long pass over the top from Jorginho before prodding into the goal from close range.
Eddie Howe sent on late subs to try and chase the game but the Magpies were almost picked off again when Havertz hit the bar in stoppage time. The result was harsh on Newcastle as Howe, not known for setting up teams to be defensively solid, had got his game plan spot on, only to be undone by a late moment of brilliance.
Next up for Newcastle is a trip to struggling Everton on Thursday 17th March.