Chelsea Vs Newcastle Review

Chelsea contentions clear as Newcastle are brushed aside

Rain no Hazard- Eden Hazard tucks his spot kick away after Torres is brought down by Anita.

Written by Aodhan Kinsella

Two first half goals from Eden Hazard and Fernando Torres moved Chelsea back to the top of the table this evening.

The fixture was a tough one to predict for all pundits, but after watching the game pundits will feel very foolish to have doubted a Chelsea victory against Pardew's Newcastle. Although the second half lacked the excitement of the first, Di Matteo has many positives to take out of the game.

Having been Chelsea's most productive player in the first two games of the season, Hazard was eager to impress in his debut at the Bridge, and didn't he indeed. Hazard showed why the 35 million pounds Chelsea paid for him will not be wasted. The elegant touches, the awareness,  the balance and the composure he has whilst on the ball is extraordinary. For such a young professional, it seems that Hazard has already established himself as a wonderful play maker. Make no mistake; the Premier League is the best league in the world, and the most challenging for any professional. For Hazard to walk in to Chelsea's first team from Ligue 1 is again breathtaking to see, to see the Belgium read the game with ease. The bonus with such a talent like Hazard is that his performances can enhance other Chelsea players around him. Fernando Torres who has looked admirably hungry since his arrival is now building with more and more confidence game after game. Evident to the build up for Chelsea's first goal, Torres urged past Santon into the penalty area and brought an unnecessary foul from Anita to leave Phil Dowd with no choice but to award a penalty kick. Apart from the departed Drogba and the veteran Lampard, no other players have tucked penalties away in a live game for Chelsea for quite some time, Hazard changed that statistic with a determined finish into the left side netting. 

It's working -Torres shows appreciation playing among side the Belgium star 

As Chelsea proceeded to dominate it wasn't long until the game would see it's second goal through Fernando Torres. Having been angered from receiving a booking minutes before, it looked as if Torres was having everything against him, but the Spaniard generated the anger and aggression into productivity. Having spotted Hazard moving ahead of him, Torres linked up with the youngster to receive a perfect ball on the edge of the box awaiting an outside of the boot curler from Torres into the top corner of the net. Even the promising Krul looked in hopelessness of the fine finish from Fernando. 

Newcastle, who 48 hours earlier were in Athens for Europa League football, seemed  to lack energy in the game. Their best hope was through the highly rated Hatem Ben Arfa, who always looked to take a man on and make something happen. However, having Pardew channel Arfa down the right wing it was always going to be difficult for the Frenchman to play against two left sided defenders; Bertrand as left wing today and of course Ashley Cole. Personally i feel that Ben Arfa would relish at the chance of having a free role behind Ba and Cisse to attack and torment  opposition defenses, because players like Arfa were not designed to be back defending.  

Tough tight week leaves Toon tired -  Pardew upset with lack of rest for his players 

As Chelsea looked to slow the tempo and see out the game, Newcastle pushed for a goal to change the balance of things, but they failed to finish critical chances. The best chance fell to Demba Ba who uncharacteristically missed a clear open chance in the box as he passed the ball into Cech's hands.

Newcastle will be frustrated to have not been able to take any of their chances, but will feel that they were second best to a very promising Chelsea team tonight.

Di Matteo will be very pleased with his team sealing another a third successive victory early on this season, and other team's should make no mistake that this Chelsea side is competing for the title. Having being able to build on a side that now hold the Champions League trophy, Di Matteo now has a squad that can compete for all trophies this year. Breezing past a challenging side like Newcastle with players like Terry,Lampard and Oscar not playing shows that the Chelsea side is now forming a squad whom which all players compete for places, this can only mean positive things for all people around Chelsea. 

Have any thoughts on the game? Express your feelings in the comments.