A fleeting loss of first-half control on Nicolas Jackson’s part threatens to cost Chelsea an awful lot of money and prestige. Jackson’s dismissal for smashing a forearm into Sven Botman’s face jeopardised his team’s hopes of Champions League qualification on a day when Enzo Maresca’s side could easily have taken an unlikely point.
Newcastle are almost at the juncture where they can start dusting down the guide books to Paris, Barcelona, Milan, Munich et al but, after a bright start resulted in Sandro Tonali’s opener, Eddie Howe’s players rather lost their way against Chelsea’s 10 men and ended up a little flattered by the scoreline.
Not for the first time in recent weeks Alexander Isak was off the attacking pace and Bruno Guimarães underwhelmed slightly in midfield. As Chelsea’s 10 men threatened an extraordinary comeback, Kieran Trippier’s nous was increasingly missed: along with Joe Willock, the former England full‑back was sidelined by injury and that dual absence prompted a formation change by Howe.
It involved Newcastle switching to a back three with Jacob Murphy relocating to right wing-back and Anthony Gordon making his first start since March on the left of an attacking trident. Gordon’s early advances caught Chelsea half asleep – no wonder Maresca had dubbed the midday kick-off time “practically first thing in the morning” – and the way was paved for the yet again excellent Tonali to dispossess Roméo Lavia and initiate a move that led to Murphy crossing with menace. His delivery was met by Tonali, leaving the Italy midfielder to watch with glee as the ball crashed into the turf before looping over the wrongfooted Robert Sánchez.
It was already evident that the customarily impressive Moisés Caicedo, once again deployed out of position at right-back by Maresca, was struggling against Gordon but Chelsea’s task become a whole lot more complicated once Jackson was sent off for elbowing Botman in the head.
Jackson had become increasingly frustrated in the face of tight marking and flung out an arm as he and the towering Dutch centre‑back challenged for a header. Although the referee, John Brooks, reached initially for a yellow card, a VAR review was inevitable.
As home fans chorused “off, off, off” and Maresca filled the warm spring air with expletives, Jackson argued he had merely been protecting himself but, unmoved, Brooks upgraded the punishment to a red card. As the forward meandered off, a still molten Maresca gazed in the opposite direction.
Granted Botman was caught by more of Jackson’s wrist than the elbow joint but from certain angles at least it looked a deliberate forearm smash. The case for the prosecution was only strengthened by the miscreant taking his eye off the ball and aiming a couple of sneaky glances at Botman before swinging that limb.
Given that the ensuing suspension will sideline him for the season’s closing fixtures Chelsea could yet pay a very high price for such indiscipline.
Well before that game-changing cameo Howe’s new-look version of 3-4-3 had seemed assured with Dan Burn doing a superb man-marking job on Cole Palmer. Yet Maresca, looking ever more disconsolate as he prowled the technical area in a salmon pink sweatshirt, was evidently fed up with being tactically bested and utilised 10 men to ingenious effect.
Indeed, his replacement of Noni Madueke with Reece James, and redeployment of Palmer as a false 9, changed the game’s complexion, prompting Howe to reinforce midfield by switching to a back four as Botman made way for Lewis Miley.
Newcastle’s manager evidently noted that James had stabilised Chelsea’s 10 men considerably, not to mention allowing a happily relocated, newly blossoming, Caicedo to help control tracts of visiting midfield possession. Might things have been different if the London club had kicked off with James at right-back and Caicedo in midfield?
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Howe became sufficiently concerned to reshuffle his rearguard by sending on a no‑nonsense defender in Emil Krafth with the Sweden right‑back replacing Gordon. At that stage Newcastle, tellingly, had been restricted to merely a couple of second-half shooting chances with Guimarães and Isak missing rare opportunities as their guests made them work for the win.
With Chelsea now dominant, Newcastle retreated ever deeper and home fans became ever more nervous. Hearts were duly in mouths as Enzo Fernández forced Nick Pope into an excellent one-handed save and then James headed narrowly off target with the goal at his mercy.
Confirmation that it was Howe’s day arrived when, on a rare second‑half excursion into the visiting half, Guimarães met the fallout from a free‑kick and watched his ensuing shot take a hefty deflection off Malo Gusto before looping past a stranded Sánchez.
Anyone seeking the definition of a high stakes showdown should surely look no further than Chelsea’s trip to Nottingham Forest on the season’s final Sunday.
Source: theguardian.com
