Marcos Alonso fires Chelsea to victory over Newcastle

Posted Sunday, October 20, 2019 by PA

Marcos Alonso’s first goal of the season fired Chelsea to a 1-0 victory over Newcastle.

The Spaniard struck 17 minutes from time as the Blues racked up a fifth straight victory in all competitions.

Back-to-back clean sheets at home in the Premier League will also have pleased manager Frank Lampard as his young side continue to grow in confidence, and climb the table, following a slow start to the campaign.

Not that Newcastle offered much of a threat, at least until the final few minutes with substitute Andy Carroll throwing himself around in attack.

Callum Hudson-Odoi, fresh from his starring role for England Under-21s in the 5-1 win over Austria, was impressive again for Chelsea.

The winger’s early cross was headed wide by Willian before he cleverly teed up Mason Mount in the area, the midfielder turning smartly only to place his shot too close to Martin Dubravka, who made a fine save.

Moments earlier Dubravka had a heart-in-the-mouth moment when his clearance was charged down by Tammy Abraham, only for the ball to spin away to safety.

Ross Barkley, England’s two-goal hero in Bulgaria, had been handed a Chelsea recall by Lampard in place of the injured N’Golo Kante, but his afternoon was cut short by an injury and he limped off before the break.

Chelsea were inches from opening the scoring 10 minutes into the second half when Abraham’s header flicked off defender Ciaran Clark and thumped against the crossbar.

Abraham then gave Clark the slip at a corner only to head over before Christian Pulisic, on as a substitute for a rare opportunity to prove he should be starting more games, did the exact opposite.

Willian and Abraham led a swift counter-attack but when the ball found its way across goal to Pulisic six yards out the American poked it straight at Dubravka.

Pulisic did, however, have a hand in the winner, pulling the ball back for Hudson-Odoi, who touched it on for Alonso to drill home.

Abraham thought he had doubled the lead late on after Pulisic squared the ball but DeAndre Yedlin slid in to deny the England striker.

Chelsea had to withstand a late Newcastle aerial raid, spearheaded by Carroll, and they held on to register another well-earned win.