A place in the Carabao Cup semi-final would have been on Chelsea minds come kick-off but first they needed to produce a reaction to the dismantling they suffered in the Premier League versus the Magpies. Unfortunately, it was a catalogue of errors that will be best remembered from the opening half.
Levi Colwill’s misplaced pass allowed Callum Wilson to take the ball through as Thiago Silva could not find his feet to put in a challenge while Benoit Badiashile claimed the ball but not control of it and soon nudged it back to the Newcastle forward. Wilson made no mistake.
Mauricio Pochettino’s men were dominant in possession but in a familiar pattern could not create the chances to put themselves on level pegging. As the game waged into the second half, Christopher Nkunku’s debut helped invigorate the crowd but Chelsea could do little to find a way past Newcastle’s backline.
It wasn’t until stoppage time and a moment of pause from Kieran Trippier, that substitute Mykhailo Mudryk was able to find a way through to level the scores and force a penalty shootout. It was the Newcastle full back that then missed the first penalty to allow Chelsea their advantage before Djordje Petrovic came up huge to deny Matt Ritchie.
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