March 13, (THEWILL) –Â After a tense and testing match at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea narrowly defeated Newcastle 1-0 to keep the morale of players and coaching crew high.
Thomas Tuchel’s team struggled to break down Eddie Howe’s players, but an 89th-minute strike from Kai Havertz was all it took to give them the victory that the fans needed, after a frustrating week of uncertainty surrounding the club with the actions of the UK government against owner, Roman Abramovich.
After a tight and stressful opening period with little chances, Fabian Schar’s header across goal after 25 minutes was the closest either side came to opening the score. Fortunately for the Blues, Senegalese stopper Edouard Mendy cut out the chance.
At the other end, Havertz zipped a ball through the six-yard box before Mason Mount fired a free-kick into the side-netting, deceiving half of Stamford Bridge into thinking it had gone the right side of the post.
Dan Burn nearly scored with a glancing header, and the tall centre-back was shortly involved in a brawl with Havertz after being elbowed in the face. The German was given a yellow card for the challenge, which was upheld after a VAR review.
At the end of the first half, Miguel Almiron’s 20-yard volley forced Mendy into a remarkable save, and the two teams headed into halftime goalless and the stalemate looking primed to be broken at any moment.
After the break, Bruno Guimaraes sliced a shot narrowly wide for Newcastle, while referee David Coote was unmoved by Jacob Murphy’s appeals for a penalty after being dragged down by Trevoh Chalobah in the Chelsea area.
When Martin Dubravka pulled down Timo Werner, Chelsea had a penalty claim of their own, but the German had been signalled for a marginal offside, so no penalty calls were considered as well for the hosts.
Chelsea should have grabbed the lead after 76 minutes when Hakim Ziyech’s cross was exquisitely placed onto Havertz’s head, but he was unable to direct the ball either side of Dubravka, who handled the header comfortably.
With stoppage time approaching, Havertz finally scored when Jorginho delivered a beautiful ball over the top of the Newcastle defence, and the Germany international held his composure to slot past Dubravka and give Chelsea the win.
Chelsea are slated to play Lille in the second leg of their Champions League round-of-16 tie on Wednesday on the road, although the club’s future is still up in the air. On Thursday, Newcastle will play Everton at Goodison Park in the Premier League.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
