Chelsea fell 1-0 to Newcastle United as defensive mistakes and a lack of cutting edge left their Champions League bid under pressure. Newcastle proved difficult to break down after the restart, even as Chelsea dominated territory and possession. Aaron Ramsdale was rarely truly tested, while a half-hearted penalty appeal for a foul on Cole Palmer and Reece James\u2019s late strike off the woodwork provided the main moments of excitement in a subdued second half.<\/p>\n
The defeat prevented Chelsea from moving up to third and they remain fifth, three points behind Aston Villa and Manchester United. Clean sheets have been scarce since the arrival of Liam Rosenior. Saturday was Rosenior\u2019s 17th match in charge and the side have recorded only three shutouts during that period. The recent run has combined individual errors, disciplinary issues and fragile defending.<\/p>\n
Anthony Gordon\u2019s early goal exposed those problems. A simple through ball split a disjointed defensive line, with Trevoh Chalobah caught out of position and Reece James out of place as Joe Willock burst through and set up Gordon\u2019s finish. The goal sits alongside a string of soft concessions, with the midweek five conceded at Paris Saint-Germain offered as an example of negligent defending.<\/p>\n
Goalkeeping mistakes have dominated headlines recently, but outfield defenders must shoulder blame too. Wesley Fofana\u2019s form has been uneven, Malo Gusto offers little reassurance in his own third and Chalobah has shown lapses in concentration. Rosenior will need to tighten the back line.<\/p>\n
Chelsea asked their forwards to cover defensive frailties but, when met by a low block, the attack looked toothless. Newcastle retreated deeper and frustrated the hosts as the clock ran down.<\/p>\n
Player ratings
\nGK: Robert S\u00e1nchez: 7.2
\nRB: Malo Gusto: 6.7
\nCB: Wesley Fofana: 6.6
\nCB: Trevoh Chalobah: 6.9
\nLB: Marc Cucurella: 7.2
\nDM: Reece James: 7.7
\nDM: Mois\u00e9s Caicedo: 6.6
\nRW: Cole Palmer: 6.9
\nAM: Enzo Fern\u00e1ndez: 7.1
\nLW: Alejandro Garnacho: 6.8
\nST: Jo\u00e3o Pedro: 6.3
\nSUB: Liam Delap (46\u2019 for Gusto): 6.4
\nSUB: Rom\u00e9o Lavia (61\u2019 for Caicedo): 6.3
\nSUB: Jorrel Hato (83\u2019 for Fofana): N\/A<\/p>\n
Key statistics: possession 67% to 33%, xG 1.43 to 1.42, total shots 22 to 7, shots on target 3 to 5, big chances 2 to 1, passing accuracy 92% to 78%, fouls 9 to 10.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chelsea lost 1-0 to Newcastle; defensive lapses and a tame attack dent Champions League hopes. home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8542,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[190,172],"tags":[332,1047,1089],"class_list":["post-8543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea","category-epl","tag-aaron-ramsdale","tag-champions-league","tag-chelsea-struggles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8543\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}