Chelsea Conquer Magpie Tormentors

It's one of life's little ironies but Chelsea priobabaly played better on Tyneside when they undeservedly lost than back at Stamford Bridge when they eventually got the better of a Newcastle team that seem to play better against the league leaders than against many other lesser outfits. Mind you, Tottensham have now emulated the Geordies' favourite club by losing at the non-palatial Palace, thereby revealing their own affliction from Post Chelsea Conquest Disorder. It seems that teams that scale the heights when they topple us then immediately lose their next league match and return quickly to mediocrity. Perhaps defeating Chelsea is a bad omen, so other clubs should kindly take note!

Meanwhile back at the ranch, or the Bridge to be precise, the Premiership favourites struggled terribly for forty minutes to string four passes together, but after Newcastle had threatened to double their points against us, along comes a quick corner from Willian and Ivanovic which resulted in Oscar slotting home from close range. God knows that the latter desperately needed a goal to boost his flagging confidence. Let's hope that the boy wonder from Brazil can kick on from here.

Fortunately, Chelsea were a huge improvement thereafter and their second-half display was a lot more reminiscent of their autumnal majesty. Costa finished off a smart move, thereby moving into the outright lead in the race to be the Premiership's leading scorer at the end of this season.

It was good to see Petr Cech restored to his rightful place as Chelsea's first-choice goalkeeper. I'm afraid that Courtois should not have conceded five goals at the lane. It was equally good to see Zouma start in defence. He seems more than competent, and like his partner, Mr Terry, he has a knack of scoring goals too.

Elsewhere, it was wonderful to see struggling Everton respond against Manchester Mercenaries with an equaliser. The scorer, Steven Naismith, had previously broke our hearts on a visit to Goodison Park in September 2013, so twas lovely to see him inflict misery upon Manchester Wannabes. Even Frank Lampard and the dangerous Aguero could not restore the away team's lead. The English champions face hot and cold Arsenil and then visit us in their next two league matches. If they take at least four points from those two outings, they could prove hard to stop. They also have the luxury of sitting out the Capital One Cup semi finals while we have the tiresome task of coping with a slightly resurgent Liverpoo on consecutive weeks. Chelsea certainly have their hands full. I don't regard them as favourites for the Premiership, but instead feel that the prize is a toss-up between the clubs in first and second. As for ManUre, well poor deluded Phil Jones still reckons that they can mount a challenge for the top spot. He needs to concentrate on improving his football before spouting nonsense and disrespecting Chelsea by suggesting that we might drop at least thirteen more points than ManUre between now and mid-May.

Next on the agenda is a visit to south Wales where Swansea City lie in ambush. They were soundly beaten four-one at Shamfield recently, but it's only to be expected that they will play better against us than they did in their capitulation at Liverpoo. However, there is one good sign from Chelsea's revenge win over the Tynesiders, and that is the old adage that championship-winning teams have the knack of winning when they are not playing terribly well. The thing is that you can't play badly too often and expect to get away with it. The Blues must improve. At least they have the usually solid defence and the lethal centre forward[s] to ensure that further success is there for the taking.  

CHELSEA 2 Newcastle United 0; half time: 1-0. Saturday 10th January 2015.

CHELSEA goal scorers: Oscar; Costa

CHELSEA team: Cech, Ivanovic, Terry, Zouma, Azpilicueta, Matic, Fabregas, Oscar, Willian, Costa, Hazard. Used substitutes: Filipe Luis, Ramires, Remy.

CHELSEA LEADING SCORERS:

Costa - 15 goals

Hazard - 11 goals

Drogba - 6 goals

Oscar and Terry - 5 goals

Fabregas, Remy, and Schurrle - 4 goals

Matic and Willian - 3 goals

Ivanovic, Ramires, and Zouma - 2 goals