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| Newcastle take on Chelsea at home in the EPL opener for this weekend's action. |
13:31 - Half-time at The Sports Direct Arena, where the scoreline is still goal-less despite Chelsea dominating most of the possession and goal-scoring chances so far. Playmakers Eden Hazard and Juan Mata have both looked dangerous on the counter attack for The Blues already, and Chelsea may feel that they should be 2 or 3 goals ahead if it was not for solid defending by Newcastle full-backs Mathieu Debuchy and Davide Santon who have been the bright spark in a lacklustre Newcastle side so far.
Like I said, the score is 0-0 and Newcastle need to involve French strikers Remy and Gouffran on the ball more often if they want to score because they are under the knife getting split in defence with long inviting balls by Luiz and Mata. If they can stay solid at the back for the second half and go on a counter attack, who knows? But it does not look like it will stay 0-0, that's for sure.
13:46 - Second half has begun, with Newcastle and Chelsea both returning to the pitch before the restart.
50: You feel that Newcastle need to create a goal-scoring chance, and soon because it looks as if Mourinho has told his players at half-time to up the intensity of the game. At this point in time I don't think Newcastle can handle it either.
52: Cameras show that defensive midfielder Vurnon Anita is getting ready to come on, and he is going to replace the captain Cheick Tiote who looks to be struggling with an injury knock to his thigh.
58: Newcastle go on the counter attack with striker Shola Ameobi through on goal past Ramires and Luiz, but his shot/cross is poor and defender John Terry is able to clear away to Cabaye whose shot is wide of Cech's goal. The hosts need to have more shots on goal or they cannot score....
59: That's better! They go on the counter attack again with a great through ball into the box on the overlap by Santon to Sissoko, who goes towards the near post before having a strike on goal but Cech does well to dive and parry the ball away for a corner.
60: The corner is taken, and the resulting strike is comfortably saved by Cech from point-blank range.
61: Mourinho and Pardew are now going to "show their hand" with some substitutions:
Chelsea SUB:
Juan Mata OFF
Fernando Torres OFF
Willian ON
Samuel Eto'o ON
Newcastle SUB:
Shola Ameobi OFF
Papiss Cisse ON
66: The game is looking lively, but it's surprisingly still 0-0.
67: Newcastle free-kick from 40 yards out, after Sissoko gets kicked in the back in an aerial challenge with English full-back Ashley Cole.
68: Cabaye is brought to the touchline for some quick tactics by manager Alan Pardew, who is talking to him about the free-kick delivery...
69: Cabaye crosses the ball well into the box.... GOAL! The inviting ball and delivery beats all Chelsea defenders inside the box, before French striker Yoan Gouffran heads past Cech into the bottom corner of the net to make it 1-0 and score his 3rd goal of the season!
It was a dangerous set-piece, you can never let Cabaye have a free-kick or corner and that's why!
70: You can tell that Mourinho is furious right now, his side are 1-0 down with 20 minutes to play and he has now used all of his 3 substitutions:
Frank Lampard OFF
Andre Schurrle ON
72: Newcastle certainly deserved the goal, because they've been the more dominant team so far in the second half. I cannot say that Chelsea will not come back to press for the last 15+ minutes though..
73: Eto'o does well to win his side a corner after a lacklustre handball shout, but the corner comes off nothing and the Newcastle defence clear as Brazillian forward Willian is down clutching his back off the pitch.
75: Great defending by Newcastle, with Anita denying Oscar from getting a ball into the box with a heroic sliding tackle near the touchline.
77: Yellow cards being brandished for Chelsea players Ramires and David Luiz, they need to be careful for the last 10 minutes or so.
14:19: Team line-ups from the 3pm kick-off's are coming thick and fast across England - I will have all team news and line-ups from all the games after this match.
78: It's rather interesting as to how Chelsea have only looked dangerous in the second half after they conceded, maybe a wake-up call but you can see that Newcastle are desperate to hang on to their slender 1-0 lead. Either way you look at it, it would be 3 points but it will not be easy...
80: Great defending by Debuchy once again to deny both Willian and Eto'o with strikes inside the box. Krul was helpless to save the second effort from Eto'o, but full-back Debuchy stepped in and threw his body to block the shot and let play go out for a Chelsea corner. The resulting corner came of nothing however.
Good shout for My Man Of The Match, between him and Santon right now.
84: Newcastle are making a substitution, with French striker and only goalscorer of the day Yoan Gouffran being replaced by former Manchester United forward Gabriel Obertan.
86: Belgian winger Eden Hazard has a strike towards goal, but his effort fizzes past the post and he looks in frustration as his side are still trailing with time running out..
89: Game over! Newcastle have doubled their lead just before the end of the game, thanks to a power strike by French striker Loic Remy who hit the ball powerfully past Cech, hitting the post twice before falling into the net.
90: The fourth official has signalled for 5 minutes to play of stoppage time, with Newcastle fans singing their hearts out. Who can blame them? Their team is leading 2-0 at home against title challengers...
90+2: Chelsea still trying to score, but Newcastle are staying strong in defence. It could very easily be 3-0 with a counter attack at the right point..
90+4: Chelsea have a corner to score a potential consolation goal, but Hazard's delivery is poor and Krul comfortably saves the cross. Game over!
(MORE TO FOLLOW - as it happens LIVE)
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