Goals from Ramires and Willian earned the champions a share of the spoils at St James’s Park on Saturday after it appeared Ayoze Perez and Georginio Wijnaldum had secured the points for Newcastle. Ramires would also come in to replace Oscar in the 73rd minute.
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Chelsea responded impressively after half-time, only to be hit by a sucker punch when Wijnaldum nodded home a second. The forward would make no mistake in putting the ball past Asmir Begovic and into the Chelsea net with a superb strike.
But Ramires ensured a tense conclusion when he thumped a 25-yard drive into Krul’s top corner with 11 minutes remaining, and after Pedro had wasted a glorious opportunity to level, Willian deceived Krul with a curling free-kick to snatch a draw with four minutes remaining.
They would be undone late in the first half when Kurt Zouma seemed to misjudge the flight of a long ball from Vurnon Anita which was brought down with excellent control by Ayoze Perez. Steve McClaren and Newcastle will be gutted they couldn’t take all three points while Jose Mourinho will be delighted to get something out of a game they were never really in until the end, even if he doesn’t show it in the post-match interview.
Late goals from substitutes Ramires and Willian denied Newcastle their first win of the season as Chelsea fought back to claim a 2-2 draw at St James’ Park. “(We were) so close to a great win, and then you think at 2-2 with five minutes to go you could still lose it as the momentum had swung”, he told Sky Sports.
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Chelsea raced out of the blocks in he second half, controlling the lion’s share of possession. “I have to keep analysing the opponent and try to know more about them – who is playing, who is injured, who plays with (Fabricio) Coloccini as a central defender – (Chancel) Mbemba or (Mike) Williamson or another one”. Poor individual performances, too many.
