Newcastle United secured a vital three points with a 4-1 win against Chelsea this Saturday after the Premier League returned from the international break. Suffering back-to-back defeats at the hands of Dortmund and Bourenmouth, Newcastle were seeking a strong response to this dip in form, which they definitely displayed with a dominant performance.

The injury crisis within Newcastle seems to worsen with every game played, with Callum Wilson, Dan Burn, Elliot Anderson, Jacob Murphy, Sean Longstaff, and Sven Botman all ruled out of the fixture against Chelsea. Eddie Howe opted for three changes from the team that faced a 2-0 loss to Bournemouth earlier in the month. Lewis Hall, Sean Longstaff, and Joe Willock dropped out, and Tino Livramento, Bruno Guimaraes, and Alexander Isak returned. We also saw a slight adjustment to the front line, which consisted of Gordon, Isak and Almiron. The midfield was comprised of Joelinton, Guimaraes, returning from suspension, and Miley. The CB partenership given the nod by the manger was Schär and Lascelles, with Trippier and Livramento as RB and LB, respectively, and Pope kept his spot in goal.

Opposition manager Mauricio Pochettino made only two changes to his side that battled for a point in a thrilling 4-4 encounter with Manchester City, with Badiashile and Ugochuckwu being brought into the starting eleven for Caicedo and Disasi. The line-up indicated Chelsea would be playing a 4-2-3-1 formation, with the in-form striker Nicolas Jackson up front. Behind him, an attacking line of Sterling, Gallagher and Palmer looked to provide opportunities to attack. Holding midfield behind were Fernández and Ugochukwu with a defensive unit of Cucurella, Badiashille, Silva and James and Sánchez in goal, hoping to keep Chelsea’s first league clean sheet in 5 games.

The game started fairly openly, with both teams hoping for a positive start; however there were few clear-cut chances within the opening stages of the game. The first real attack from Newcastle came from positive build-up play in the 13th minute, all the way from the back. Chelsea were unable to clear a well-executed cross from Trippier in the far right corner, which was controlled by Gordon. The ball landed at 17-year old Lewis Miley’s feet, who played a two-touch pass to Isak, who turned beautifully and slotted the ball past a flailing Robert Sánchez. 1-0!

After going a goal up, the Magpies allowed Chelsea to enjoy a spell of possession as they tried to work their way back into the game after a frantic start. Jackson was brought down by Trippier, who was shown a yellow card, just outside of the box. The equaliser then came from an impressive free kick from Raheem Sterling, who was able to raise his shot over the black and white wall, past a motionless Nick Pope, and into the top left corner of the Newcastle goal to level the game up in the 23rd minute. 1-1!

More chances fell to Newcastle as they searched for a way to restore their lead, with the most significant coming in the 26th minute when Silva stumbed over the ball, giving away an unnecessary corner to the home side. Trippier swung in the corner, which was met by the head of Joelinton, who somehow missed the golden opportunity, firing wide of the target.

The Magpies continued to remain dominant, although neither team was able to capitalise on any chances, and the first half was brought to a close all square at one goal a piece.

Eddie Howe’s men ramped up the pressure in the second half as they probed for a second goal, and just 15 minutes later, that’s exactly what they got. A stunning cross from Anthony Gordon in the 60th minute landed at the head of Lascelles, who made no mistake in placing his header deep into the left corner, leaving the Chelsea keeper with no chance. What an assist from Gordon, 2-1!

The esatic Geordie faithful had scarcely stopped celebrating when Newcastle extended their lead. A woeful error at the back from Silva proved to be costly, with the mistake seized upon by a charging Joelinton. The Brazilian rifled the ball home in the 61st minute to increase the Magpies advantage. 3-1!

Things went from bad to worse for the visiting West London team as the Blues captain, Reece James, was shown a second yellow card for a pull on Gordon in the 73rd minute, leaving them to play out the remainder of the match a man down.

Newcastle, with a man advantage, continued to show their ruthlessness as they searched for another goal, which came just ten minutes after the red card, in the 83rd minute. Gordon topped off a fantastic performance after being on the receiving end of a delightful pass from Almiron, allowing him to exploit his explosive pace. He charged into the Chelsea box, before sliding the ball across Sánchez and into the bottom right corner, another excellently worked goal to secure all three points for the Mags.. 4-1!

The game came to a close with joyous celebrations from the black and white army, happy to get back to winning ways —and in some style! The victory took Eddie Howe’s men up to sixth temporarily, but with Manchester United securing a win over Everton, Newcastle move to 7th.

Up next for the Magpies is a trip to France’s capital, where they face PSG in the Champions League, in which they’ll be hoping to complete a group double over their Parisian rivals. With a squad at full stretch, will the Mags be able to repeat the emphatic win at St James’ Park just 54 days ago, that lives so strongly in the minds of the Newcastle faithful, or will they be returning home empty- handed with crushed European dreams?