There were no wild celebrations from Mauricio Pochettino, just a slow and deliberate double punch from his technical area. Another day he sailed in Chelsea. Nowadays that’s all you can ask for.
Here, against a Newcastle team for whom injury problems continue to pile up, Chelsea were consistently unimpressive. They scored early through Nicolas Jackson, but looked like they were going to start to split when Alexander Isak equalized just before half-time.
Ultimately, though, Pochettino’s players showed some mettle and, as we approach the final games of another dismal season, that’s encouraging.
Chelsea scored two goals in 20 minutes of the second half and both were good goals. The first was scored by the home team’s best player, Cole Palmer. With England manager Gareth Southgate here to watch, this was a performance that should seal his place in Thursday’s international squad.
The second, meanwhile, was taken well by a player who has taken longer to establish himself, the expensive Ukrainian Mykhailo Mudryk.
There was a scare at the end when Newcastle’s Jacob Murphy, replacing the injured Anthony Gordon in the first half, fired a rocket high into the net from an angle. But Chelsea watched the game without alarm. They currently sit 11th in the Premier League and have a game in hand than most of the clubs above them. Everything still looks and feels pretty normal, but if Pochettino wants to see a sixth home league win as a small step in the right direction, then it seems churlish to envy him.
Newcastle’s record at Stamford Bridge has long been poor, but this is a Chelsea team capable of losing anywhere. So it was perhaps no surprise that the proceedings took forever to come to life.
Chelsea scored just in the seventh minute, but even that didn’t ignite the contest. Newcastle enjoyed plenty of possession, perhaps more than they would have expected, but didn’t do much with it. Chelsea, on the other hand, lacked the authority to really capitalize on their early advantage.
However, it was a valuable goal. Chelsea’s last game (a 2-2 draw at Brentford last Saturday) was characterized by visiting fans singing abusive songs against Pochettino. An early goal was therefore especially welcome.
Cole Palmer, probably the best player in the game from the start, started the move from deep feeding right back Axel Disasi on that side. Disasi was allowed to progress and when he crossed at the near post the ball was not cleared well enough by Sven Botman.
It was Palmer who regained possession, but his low cross shot did not appear powerful enough to trouble Martin Dubravka in the Newcastle goal.
However, Jackson was to exert a decisive influence. With his back to the goal, he made contact with the kind of backward movement that doesn’t normally occur, but it was enough to send the ball into the corner towards Dubravka’s right side.
On the touchline, Howe looked bewildered and things soon took a turn for the worse. Anthony Gordon, watched here by England coach Gareth Southgate, injured his knee and, after doing everything he could to regain full mobility, finally succumbed and was replaced by Jacob Murphy in the 36th minute.
At that point not much else had happened. Palmer and Jackson had low shots saved by Dubravka, while Isak failed to make contact with a cross crossed by the Newcastle substitute.
But just as half-time approached, Chelsea’s soft center was exposed once again.
Defender Trevor Chalobah failed to make a good clearance and when Bruno Guimaraes picked up the pieces, he did so brilliantly to pass the ball to Isak on the left.
The Swede still had a lot to do, but he opened his body wide to move the ball to his right and past Djordje Petrovic into the far corner.
That had the makings of a transformative goal for Newcastle. They had not played well at all, but Chelsea’s mental state is such that it is difficult for them to collectively face setbacks.
In fact, Newcastle almost took the lead in the opening moments of the second half when Miguel Almirón picked up Malo Gusto and fired a lofted shot towards goal which Petrovic used both hands to touch.
Without a doubt, it was already a better game. Palmer continued to be a threat down Chelsea’s right and his low cross crossed the goal in the 53rd minute. Then, two minutes later, Raheem Sterling found the side netting from an angle.
As the time approached, the game continued to improve. This went well and very soon he got his third goal and possibly his best. Once again there was a mistake from Newcastle when Dan Burn unnecessarily left the game.
But when Moisés Caicedo channeled the throw-in to Enzo Fernandes and then Palmer, he unleashed a wicked low left-footed shot past Dubravka from 22 yards.
Burn made up for his mistake almost immediately, stepping back to block a Sterling shot on the line after the Chelsea winger had cleared and rounded Dubravka.
Things did not improve for Newcastle in the following period. Burn soon added to Howe’s injury woes after falling and feeling pain in his back. He was replaced by Emil Krafth.
Despite this, Newcastle did not give up. They played with spirit, but the harder they tried to get the goal they now needed, the more vulnerable they became at the other end.
In the 76th minute they were brutally exposed as Chelsea put an end to the game. Jackson broke down the left, passed the ball inside to Conor Gallagher and when Mudryk arrived to take it from the toe, the Ukrainian beat Fabian Schar and then Dubravka to slide the ball into the empty goal.