PREMIER LEAGUE leaders Chelsea opened up space between themselves as Liverpool and Man Cith with a 3-0 win over Newcastle at St James’ Park.
Reece James scored twice and Jorginho notched a penalty while title rivals Liverpool drew with Brighton and Crystal Palace beat Man City.
Stay up to date with all the action from St James’ Park in our live blog…
STATS
Chelsea dominated a whopping 79.2 per cent of possession throughout the match.
The Blues registered a total of 19 shots, six of which were on target.
Newcastle, on the other hand, only managed six shots with only one of them being on target.
It was an easy night for the visitors’ goalkeeper Edouard Mendy as he only needed to make one save whereas Karl Darlow had to react three times
FT: NEWCASTLE 0-3 CHELSEA
Chelsea defeated Newcastle in dominating fashion at St James’ Park.
The Blues thought they opened the scoring in the first half when Jorginho’s clever ball found Hakim Ziyech in the area and the winger beat Karl Darlow with a beautiful curling shot only to be caught offside.
Ziyech came close to a goal again in the second half but his 25-yard shot deflected off of Jamaal Lascelles and rattles the Magpies’ post.
The west Londoners were really struggling to hit the target but man-of-the-match Reece James broke the deadlock on 65 minutes when he picked up a cross by Callum Hudson-Odoi from the left wing and sent the ball to Darlow’s top right corner from a tight angle.
That opened the floodgates as James sealed the win for the visitors 12 minutes later from the exact same angle.
Darlow then fouled Kai Havertz inside the area and Jorginho made it three from the penalty spot after 81 minutes
GETTY IMAGES PEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!
THAT’S FULL-TIME IN NEWCASTLE!!!!!
NEWCASTLE 0-3 CHELSEA
90 Three more minutes of added time to go at St James’ Park.
Chelsea are set to retain first place in the Premier League table
NEWCASTLE 0-3 CHELSEA
90 Wilson fouls Mendy with a cynical foul in his box and of course Newcastle’s goal doesn’t count.
The striker is obviously frustrated
NEWCASTLE 0-3 CHELSEA
88 SUBSTITUTION
Chelsea boss Tuchel replaces Hudson-Odoi with Saul.
The England international has been stunning today!
NEWCASTLE 0-3 CHELSEA
87 CHANCE!
Chelsea star James comes close to a hat-trick!
The wing-back fires another shot from the same angle but misses the target
NEWCASTLE 0-3 CHELSEA
85 Darlow brought down Havertz down inside the area.
Jorginho took the spot-kick and beat the Newcastle keeper with ease, as he usually does
GETTY IMAGES GETTY IMAGES GETTY IMAGES NEWCASTLE 0-3 CHELSEA
82 SUBSTITUTION
Newcastle manager Jones brings on Shelvey, who replaces Longstaff
NEWCASTLE 0-3 CHELSEA
81 Jorginho’s execution is excellent as he sends Darlow to his left side and the ball to the middle!
Chelsea just couldn’t hit the target all day but now they can’t stop scoring!
GOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLL!
CHELSEA SCORE AGAIN WITH JORGINHO!!!!!
NEWCASTLE 0-2 CHELSEA
80 Nope, it’s Jorginho…
James won’t get a hat-trick now…
NEWCASTLE 0-2 CHELSEA
79 PENALTY TO CHELSEA
Havertz breaks inside the area dn is brought down by Darlow’s careless lunge!
Will James take this one to complete a hat-trick?
NEWCASTLE 0-2 CHELSEA
77 James has done it again!
Loftus-Cheek fires a shot from the edge of the box that gets blocked by Newcastle’s defence.
The ball reaches the wing-back on the right and he delivers a shot to a net that was technically empty as Darlow went down thinking Loftus-Cheek’s shot would reach him
GOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLL!
CHELSEA DOUBLE THEIR LEAD WITH JAMES!!!!!
NEWCASTLE 0-1 CHELSEA
77 Chelsea have Newcastle exactly where they want them after James’ magnificent finish.
The Blues continue to dominate possession and tempo
GETTY IMAGES GETTY IMAGES NEWCASTLE 0-1 CHELSEA
75 Saint-Maximin is by far Newcastle’s most active player.
The winger is their only chance of a counter-attack but Chelsea’s midfield is too compact
NEWCASTLE 0-1 CHELSEA
73 Chelsea have Newcastle exactly where they want them.
Newcastle have been unable to put a counter-attack together for a while
NEWCASTLE 0-1 CHELSEA
70 Newcastle seem frustrated after James’ opener.
Chelsea look like an elephant is off their back and are playing with much more confidence
NEWCASTLE 0-1 CHELSEA
67 SUBSTITUTION
Newcastle manager Jones makes a double change of his own.
Willock and Almiron replace Hayden and Fraser respectively
NEWCASTLE 0-1 CHELSEA
65 What an incredible finish by James! Chelsea were dominating with nothing really to show, but they do now!
Hudson-Odoi delivers a cross from the left but it gets headed away to the far post.
James is there waiting as he takes the ball down and fires a marvellous shot to Darlow’s top right corner!
GOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLL!
CHELSEA SCORE WITH JAMES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
NEWCASTLE 0-0 CHELSEA
63 SUBSTITUTION
Chelsea manager Tuchel makes a double change as Barkley replaces Ziyech and Loftus-Cheek takes Kante’s place
NEWCASTLE 0-0 CHELSEA
60 CHANCE
Chelsea star Silva records the first shot on target from distance as he sends the ball straight to Darlow’s arms
NEWCASTLE 0-0 CHELSEA
60 Chelsea continue to stretch Newcastle’s defence and applying immense pressure.
Lots of the attack depends on James and Chilwell downt he wing where they provide crosses for the front three
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
