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90+7 min Longstaff is booked for a spicy challenge. Jamaal Lascelles is booked on the sidelines for dissent.
90+6 min Burn barges over Havertz off the ball and Mendy comes up for the ensuing free kick. It’s cleared and Newcastle counter through Joelinton, but Cucurella comes across to dispossess him before he can lob the ball into the empty net.
90+5 min Pope is booked, seemingly for saying something naughty.
90+4 min Chelsea move the ball from side to side but can’t find a way through. Koulibaly plays a desperate long ball up to Havertz, but Newcastle defend it well.
90+2 min Joelinton takes it to the corner. It’s that stage of the match for Newcastle.
An interesting observation from Paul Fitzgerald via email. “Havertz looks like a great technician who scores too many odd goals, and as a result lives in a striker/midfield wasteland.”
90 mins There’ll be seven minutes of injury time here. Can Chelsea dig out an equaliser?
88 min Koulibaly goes into the book after scything down Almirón to the right of the area. Trippier steps up, but his delivery fails to find a teammate.
86 min Botman goes down with a knock. Howe brings on Matt Targett in his place.
84 min Howe makes his second substitution, bringing off Willock for Murphy.
83 min Kovacic loses the ball in midfield, then chops down Wilson in an attempt to get it back. Jones opts against a booking.
80 min Nerves for Newcastle! Chelsea look much sharper in possession, moving the ball about at pace. It comes to Cucurella out wide on the left and he pings a cross to the near post, where Havertz ghosts in but fails to connect. There’s a scramble in the area before the hosts finally lump it clear.
78 min Pulisic makes inroads down the left and whips a cross into the box, but Burn clears at the cost of a corner. Havertz climbs highest, but heads wide.
75 min Newcastle make their first change, Wilson coming on for Wood as Howe looks to kill the game.
74 min Sorry, make that a triple substitution. Havertz is on for Broja.
73 min Potter makes a double substitution, bringing on Cucurella and Hakim Ziyech for Hall and Mount.
71 min Longstaff is down after a tackle from Hall. It’s a painful one, but it looks like he’ll be OK to continue.
Another contribution on the origins of “stonewall”, this time from Martin in Zürich. “I can help Ryan with that one. A stone wall is something very solid, so claiming a stonewall pen is a shout without doubt. Surely a much clearer case than stone cold. Whatever that is supposed to mean.”
GOAL! Newcastle 1-0 Chelsea (Willock 67)At last, we have our opener. Almirón latches on to a bouncing ball, escapes Kalidou Koulibaly, controls it twice with his head and dribbles it over to Willock, who casually curls it into the back of the net.
Joe Willock breaks the deadlock at St James’ Park. Photograph: Lee Smith/Action Images/Reuters64 min Good save! Gallagher jinks forwards on the edge of the area and unleashes a shot which Pope pushes round the post with his fingertips. That’s Chelsea’s best chance of the match so far.
From Jim McKendrick on Twitter: “Trippier is booked for bringing down Pulisic as he tries to break. Do we call this nominative determinism?” Very good.
62 min Broja makes his way up the left flank, but paints himself into a corner. Chelsea keep the ball and Kovacic has a go from just outside the box, but it’s blocked.
Back on Twitter – how are things going over there? All fine? – we’ve had a helpful contribution on the origins of “stonewall penalty”.
57 min Danger! Willock gets in behind on the left and whips the ball across the face of goal. Hall is forced into a desperate intervention, stabbing it behind for a corner after it narrowly evades Wood. Howe has his hands on his head on the sidelines.
56 min Trippier is booked for bringing down Pulisic as he tries to break.
55 min Chelsea try to calm things down, but only invite more pressure. Mendy continues to look uncomfortable with the ball.
More correspondence, this time from Ryan Price. “How happy I was to read Brian Robson mentioning “stone cold”. My biggest bug bear is pundits going on about a “stonewall” penalty. What on earth (I’m being polite) does that mean?”
50 min So close! Trippier gets in a menacing cross which is headed down by Joelinton. Wood latches on to it, but Mendy saves at point-blank range. Guimarães has a crack on the follow-up, but it’s blocked. Newcastle recycle the ball and Almirón tees up Longstaff, but he fires over.
49 min The two sides have picked up where they left off, making a choppy start to the second half. Broja is bullied off the ball as he looks to get up the pitch.
There’s been a half-time change for Chelsea, with Potter bringing on Christian Pulisic for Azpilicueta.
Christian Pulisic gets stuck into the action. Photograph: Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC/Getty ImagesSecond half kicks offWe’re back in action at St James’ Park.
Finally, a self-confessed rant from Brian Robson (not that one). “That was a stone-cold penalty with an arm dragging away from his body and stopping a pass, so where was VAR on that one?”
Brendan Large tweets: “Alright Will, just wondering if you have any idea how Potter was thinking this team would score goals? Literally one attacker on the pitch and no go forward attitude. Hall has been Chelsea’s best player by a stretch I’d say.”
It’s a fair question, Brendan, with Broja looking isolated for much of the first half. Mount has had his moments, but there’s no getting past the fact that Chelsea have had one shot. Liquid football, it is not.
Julian Menz writes in with some queries: “Can you tell us more about how Chelsea are set up? Is Hall playing wing-back, was Loftus-Cheek playing wing-back? Is Azpilicueta now playing wing-back since Silva’s introduction?”
In answer to your first question, Julian: yes, and apologies for not having done so already. Potter has set up his side in a 3-4-2-1 formation, with Hall and Loftus-Cheek starting at left and right wing-back respectively. Since Loftus-Cheek was forced off, Silva has dropped into the back three and César Azpilicueta has been shunted over to the right flank. Chelsea’s midfield pairing of Jorginho and Kovacic are struggling for control and there’s been very little play through the middle, with the visitors’ only shot of the half coming from a cross – from Hall – out on the left.
Half-timeNeither side have been at their best, but Newcastle have looked more likely to make a breakthrough. Chelsea’s attack has been utterly leaden for long stretches, even if their defence has largely held up well under pressure.
Elsewhere …
45+1 min The home fans roar for a penalty after Burn gets a low cross in which brushes Trevoh Chalobah’s arm. Robert Jones, the referee, waves away their appeals.
44 min Joelinton cuts inside off the left flank in search of an opening, but he’s crowded out.
We’ve had some email correspondence. “Great game,” says Richie Bradford. It’s hard to tell, but that could well be sarcasm.
42 min Over the last 10 minutes, Newcastle have had 72% possession. They are making a strong end to the first half.
Conor Gallagher and Bruno Guimarães go for a high ball. Photograph: Lee Smith/Action Images/Reuters 41 min Mendy collects the corner gratefully. Neither side has made much of their set pieces so far.
40 min Almirón dribbles past three men in midfield to spark an attack which ends with Burn having a crack, which is deflected wide. Another corner to Newcastle.
38 min The corner falls for Willock on the edge of the box, but he can’t force a shot through the seething mass of blue shirts.
37 min Tripper plays in Longstaff out wide on the right. He gets a probing cross into the box, which Silva clears at the cost of a corner.