Gordon caps Newcastle win after James red card compounds Chelsea misery

Long before the final whistle one thing was crystal clear; Newcastle’s players are prepared to jump through hoops of metaphorical fire for Eddie Howe. Despite being ravaged by a litany of injuries, Howe’s team summoned up frankly awe-inducing reserves of energy to ultimately steamroller a hitherto supposedly renascent Chelsea into submission.

Admittedly Reece James was sent off for collecting a second yellow card in the 73rd minute but by then Newcastle were so firmly in control that the recent talk of Mauricio Pochettino presiding over a serious challenge for Champions League qualification at Stamford Bridge seemed fanciful in the extreme.

Newcastle’s injury crisis is so acute that Howe’s substitutes’ bench included three goalkeepers and – in Amadou Diallo, Alex Murphy, Michael Ndiweni and Ben Parkinson – a quartet of youngsters promoted from the club’s under-21 squad.

Given that 11 senior players are currently in the treatment room it rather begs the question is this simply sheer bad luck, the unaccustomed strain of juggling Champions League and domestic commitments or a sign that Newcastle’s ultra high-intensity style is provoking systemic burnout?

Maybe it’s an amalgam of all three but the parallels with the period when Marcelo Bielsa’s similarly high-octane Leeds hit a comparable sort of wall cannot be ignored. Why, for instance, has Joe Willock broken down with achilles trouble so soon after returning from a lengthy absence spent convalescing from the same injury?

At least Alexander Isak was back following several weeks on the sidelines with a groin problem. The Sweden striker marked his return by scoring a fine, 13th-minute goal. When a sublime pass from 17-year-old Lewis Miley unhinged Chelsea’s defence, Isak found himself played onside by Marc Cucurella and proceeded to take a classy steadying touch before swivelling and sweeping an unstoppable shot past Robert Sánchez.

It did not take Raheem Sterling long to equalise. When Kieran Trippier felled Sterling just outside the area, the forward opted to take the ensuing free-kick himself and directed a gloriously dipping effort over the wall before watching it brush the underside of the bar en route to evading an utterly helpless Nick Pope.

Reece James is shown a red card by the referee, Simon Hooper, after a second bookable offence. Photograph: Richard Lee/Shutterstock

Undeterred, Newcastle refused to fold. Drawing on every last drop of adrenaline, the hosts attacked with typically, and exhilaratingly, aggressive ferocity at every opportunity. With Chelsea frequently struggling to close them down they might have regained the lead had Trippier’s curling free-kick not rebounded off the bar with Sánchez beaten. Earlier an unmarked Joelinton had headed wastefully wide from a corner.

If that irked Howe, Newcastle’s manager looked mighty relieved when a dreadful error on Pope’s part saw the goalkeeper play the ball straight to Conor Gallagher. Only a rapid, sinew-stretching intervention from the once again impressive Tino Livramento prevented a second Chelsea goal.

All in all there was much for Pochettino, exiled to the stands as he served a touchline ban, to be frustrated about. Chelsea’s manager cannot have enjoyed the way his players permitted themselves to be repeatedly bundled off the ball by their physically spikier hosts and could hardly have been surprised when Newcastle were rewarded with a second goal.

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It was scored by Jamaal Lascelles. And no sooner had the unattended centre-half, deputising outstandingly for the injured Sven Botman, connected with Anthony Gordon’s excellent cross and powered a header past Sánchez, than Joelinton extended the lead.

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This time Thiago Silva’s mistake. When the defender made an awful hash of a back pass, Joelinton was able to nip in and intercept before firing in Newcastle’s third. Almost immediately, Chelsea made a triple substitution but before the newcomers had an opportunity to make any sort of difference James was sent off after collecting a second yellow card for tripping Gordon.

All that remained was for Gordon to score the afternoon’s final goal, shooting low beyond Sánchez after meeting Miguel Almirón’s chipped through pass.