Tammy Abraham strike seals victory at Newcastle to keep Chelsea on the rise

The optimists among Newcastle’s fanbase predicted that with so many players freshly returned from international duty Chelsea would arrive here fatigued, fragile and, quite possibly, fractious. How wrong can you be? Frank Lampard may have fretted that a Saturday lunchtime kick-off was tough on his widely travelled squad, but his players looked formidably fresh throughout. Indeed they headed back to Newcastle airport on Saturday afternoon with the adrenaline high of a team unbeaten in 12 games and on a run of five wins in all competitions. Underestimate their title chances at your peril. Chelsea moved, for a few hours at least, to the top of the table for the first time since 2018. “We played well and it’s pleasing but I’m not going to get excited at being top for five minutes,” Lampard said. “It’s a long season and the Premier League’s tough and relentless.” Just ask Steve Bruce. At the end of a week when his predecessor, Rafael Benítez – still much adored at St James’ Park – suggested he and Newcastle have unfinished business, the home side looked in peril of conceding virtually every time Chelsea attacked. “There’ll always be grumbles,” said Bruce. “But Chelsea are very, very good. When you go high up the pitch, they can really hurt you.” Chelsea’s impressive centre-forward, Tammy Abraham, epitomised this threat and went close to opening the scoring after connecting with Hakim Ziyech’s deceptive, curving delivery before Karl Darlow tipped his header away for a corner. It proved a strictly temporary reprieve. Timo Werner and Mason Mount duly made the most of that set piece by combining in a short-corner manoeuvre, resulting in Mount crossing and Federico Fernández bundling the ball into his own net under pressure from Ben Chilwell. Full report here