toptop
Eden
Hazard continued his impressive start to life in the Premier League as he and
Fernando Torres inspired Chelsea to a 2-0 victory over Newcastle at Stamford
Bridge.
Roberto Di Matteo's men have now won all three of their opening games to take an
early lead in the table, while for the Magpies it was their first defeat after
beating Tottenham last weekend.
Both of Chelsea's goals came in the first half, with Torres winning a penalty
for the hosts when Vurnon Anita, on his full Newcastle debut, lashed out at the
striker in the box.
Hazard made no mistake with the conversion, making a short run-up before
blasting his effort past Tim Krul, who went the right way but could not stretch
to keep it out.
The Chelsea duo paired up again for the second, producing some wonderful
build-up before Hazard flicked on Torres, allowing him to toe-poke home the
Londoners' second.
Quality
Chelsea were without injured skipper John Terry and left vice-captain Frank
Lampard on the bench, but still had enough quality and experience to dominate
against a good Magpies side.
The opening 15 minutes were uneventful, with John Obi Mikel firing high and wide
and Hazard shooting straight at Newcastle goalkeeper Tim Krul.
But the home side created the first real chance three minutes later.
Torres controlled a cross-field pass from Raul Meireles before rolling a ball
just inside the box to Ryan Bertrand, whose effort was not strong enough to test
Krul.
The European champions were ahead soon after, though, when Vurnon Anita - making
his first Premier League start for Newcastle - brought down Torres just inside
the area.
With regular penalty-taker Lampard on the bench, Hazard - who earned spot-kicks
for his side in each of their first two games this season - stepped up and
directed a low penalty past Krul.
Branislav Ivanovic nearly doubled Chelsea's lead just after the half-hour mark
when he out-jumped Davide Santon to meet Ashley Cole's deep cross but his header
was too close to Krul, who managed to keep the Serbia captain's effort out.
Hazard could have grabbed his second of the game five minutes later but he
blazed over from the edge of the area as the hosts started to dominate
possession.
Torres was then showed a yellow card by referee Phil Dowd for diving after
knocking the ball around Fabricio Coloccini with the whole of the Chelsea bench
up in arms as it appeared the Newcastle captain caught Torres with his trailing
leg.
The visitors went close to equalising a minute before half-time when full-back
Danny Simpson challenged David Luiz as he tried to carry the ball out of the
box.
The loose ball broke for Papiss Cisse, but his snap-shot - although hit with
venom - was straight at Petr Cech, who held the ball well.
There was still time before the interval for Chelsea to double their lead as the
impressive Hazard back-heeled the ball perfectly into the path of Torres, who
finished coolly into the top corner.
Newcastle came out in the second half looking for an early goal to get
themselves back into the game.
First Hatem Ben Arfa wriggled free before shooting wide before Jonas Gutierrez
followed suit moments later.
Demba Ba then forced Cech into a smart save with his legs after breaking free
inside the Chelsea penalty area.
With the visitors starting to get a foothold in the game, Roberto Di Matteo
introduced Ramires off the bench in place of Juan Mata to add more guile to the
Chelsea midfield.
But it was Newcastle substitute Ryan Taylor who almost orchestrated the third
goal of the game.
His deep free-kick was met by the head of Cisse but the Senegal striker could
not keep his effort down and it comfortably cleared Cech's crossbar.
With Newcastle pushing forward Chelsea were able to launch several
counter-attacks and Bertrand almost scored a third with 10 minutes to go but his
drilled effort was deflected past Krul's far post for a corner.
Pace
Magpies boss Alan Pardew introduced Sylvain Marveaux for the final 15 minutes
and his injection of pace added to Newcastle's potency in attack.
His 84th-minute cross found its way to Ba who, after mis-kicking his first
effort, forced a low save out of Cech from eight yards.
With 90 minutes on the clock Luiz required treatment following a clash of heads
with Ba as the two contested another Marveaux cross.
Despite requiring a bandage after suffering a nasty cut, the Brazilian defender
was untroubled for the five minutes of additional time as Chelsea saw out the
remainder of the game without incident.Chelsea Team Statistics Newcastle United
Click Here For Official Teamsheet
Chelsea
Cech,
Ivanovic, Cahill, Luiz, Cole, Mikel, Meireles (Lampard 87), Hazard, Mata
(Ramires 67), Bertrand, Torres
Subs Not Used
Turnbull, Essien, Romeu, Oscar, Sturridge
Booked
Torres
Goals
Hazard (pen) 22, Torres 45
Newcastle
Krul, Simpson (R. Taylor 64), S. Taylor, Coloccini, Santon (Marveaux 74),
Ben Arfa, Cabaye (Perch 77), Anita, Guiterrez, Cisse, Ba
Subs Not Used
Harper,
Willaimson, Obertan, Amalfitano
Booked
Goals
Attendance
41,718
Referee
P. Dowd