"The Blues then did not get going at St James' Park, a ground where they had lost 15 times in the Premier League era, and found themselves 2-0 down through a pair of first-half goals from striker Nick Woltemade. So poor was the first half that Chelsea gave up an expected goals figure of 1.97 - their worst in a first 45 minutes for more than two years."
"They were error-prone at the back, wasteful in possession, out battled and failed to register a shot on target. The lack of performance was staggering given Chelsea had produced an accomplished display when beating Everton at home last weekend. That form was more in evidence after the break as they roared back through an outstanding 25-yard free-kick from Reece James and a brilliant individual goal from Joao Pedro."
"Despite the improvement by Chelsea they were still reliant on a key call going their way as Newcastle controversially saw penalty shouts waved away moments before Pedro equalised when Trevoh Chalobah clattered into Anthony Gordon in the box. It felt at times that Maresca's post-match comments from last week - in which he said "many people" had caused his "worst 48 hours" since joining the club - were continuing to impact the players."
Enzo Maresca insisted speculation about his future would not distract his squad before the Newcastle match but the team produced a disjointed first half. Chelsea fell 2-0 after two first-half goals from Nick Woltemade and conceded an expected goals figure of 1.97, their worst opening 45 minutes in over two years. The side were error-prone, wasteful in possession, out-battled and failed to register a shot on target. Chelsea improved after half-time, with Reece James scoring a 25-yard free-kick and Joao Pedro netting a brilliant individual goal, aided by a controversial non-penalty decision against Newcastle.
Read at www.bbc.com
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