da fazobetai： Chelsea eased the pressure on manager Andre Villas-Boas after inflicting Newcastle’s first home defeat of the season with a comfortable 3-0 win at St James’ Park.
da wazamba： Goals from Didier Drogba, Salomon Kalou and Daniel Sturridge saw off a spirited display from the Magpies who will feel the visitors should have had a man sent off after David Luiz hauled down Demba Ba in the early stages. The Brazilian was shown a yellow card by referee Mike Dean and it proved to be a game changer as the home side struggled to find a way through the Blues back four. Alan Pardew’s men did hit the woodwork three times but also had keeper Tim Krul to thank for a series of impressive saves including Frank Lampards first half penalty. The win was only Chelsea’s fourth in 10 games and saw them leapfrog Newcastle into the Premier League top four to ease the pressure on Villas-Boas’ shoulders. It could have been so different had Luiz been shown a red after bringing down Ba just outside the area as the Senegal striker made tracks for goal. Despite being the last man referee Dean opted to brandish a yellow card much to the displeasure of Pardew and the Geordie public.
From that moment on Chelsea took control and should have been four up by half time had Daniel Sturridge not wasted a host of chances after catching left back Ryan Taylor out of position on more than one occasion with Krul denying him with a series of smart stops. The Dutch goalkeeper would really earn his stripes on 13 minutes diving low to his left to save Frank Lampards penalty after Yohan Cabaye had tripped Sturridge in the area. Still the West London onslaught continued and it was only a matter of time before they took the lead with Drogba meeting Juan Mata’s cross to power the ball past Krul. On the balance of play it was well deserved although Newcastle should have equalised just moments later with Ba seeing his header from Danny Guthrie’s cross hit the post with Petr Cech beaten. They took that momentum into the second period with Shola Ameobi coming on for the ineffective Hatem Ben Arfa and it proved to be an inspired change as they went in search of an equaliser.
Ameobi did well to win a corner that saw Ba meet Cabayes whipped corner with a powerful header only to see the ball bounce agonisingly off the bar before being hacked away as Chelsea went on the counter. Sturridge’s pace saw him stride up field catching the home defence napping before squaring for Ramires who was denied brilliantly by Krul from 10 yards. That halt the home side in their efforts to level the game and Ameobi almost produced a moment of divine brilliance picking the ball up 25-yards from goal before cracking a stunning left foot drive that smashed off the post. Brother Sammy Ameobi was then introduced as a substitute with 20 minutes left and the 19-year-old came within a whisker of restoring parity only to see his volley cleared off the line after Chelsea failed to clear a corner. Those missed chances would prove to be vital as the Blues killed the game off in the last five minutes. Firstly substitute Kalou cooly slotted past Krul after being teed up by Fernando Torres before Sturridge got the goal he deserves cutting in from the right and finishing accurately from the edge of the area.
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