Chelsea 3 Newcastle Utd 4:CHELSEA PLAYED with 10 men for close to half an hour because of second-half injures to Salomon Kalou and Yossi Benayoun and came so close to forcing extra-time after Nicolas Anelka's second strike. Yet in a frantic finish Shola Ameobi's late header settled what had been an enthralling tie.
Precisely six minutes were required for Patrick van Aanholt’s opening goal of his Chelsea career to arrive. It came courtesy of twin mix-ups from the visitors. Sol Campbell and Tim Krul, the goalkeeper playing for the injured Steve Harper, both went for a ball the Dutchman failed to deal with conclusively. The rebound fell to Alan Smith and the Newcastle captain played a casual pass to Nile Ranger. He lost possession and Kakuta on the left played in Van Aanholt for the 20-year-old to score against the club he played for seven times last season in the Championship.
Chelsea’s early-season fluidity had appeared unaffected until six minutes before and after the half hour mark when the visitors levelled, then overtook them. First, Shane Ferguson stepped up from left-back and floated in a cross which was flicked on by Peter Lovenkrands for Ranger, a 19-year-old former Newcastle trainee, to score his first of the season. He should have had a second after Ferguson and Jonas Gutierrez again exposed Chelsea down their right but he completely missed his shot from the Argentinian’s low cross.
Ryan Taylor, who had been booked in the 10th minute for an industrial tackle on Kakuta, now employed his power to force Chelsea to concede again. Phil Dowd awarded a free-kick for a foul on Ameobi by Jeffrey Bruma and Taylor smashed a 20-yard free-kick across Ross Turnbull, which he might have saved if he had raised his left hand quicker.
Ancelotti replaced John Terry and Kakuta with Alex and Kalou respectively for the second half. Paulo Ferreira had taken the armband from Terry, but he hardly led by example with the errant pass he played across midfield from the fell into Ameobi’s path. From around 25 yards out the striker still had to conjure a finish, and he did so sweetly.
The first crisis to envelop Ancelotti’s project this season deepened when Kalou pulled up chasing a ball and the substitute had to be replaced by Josh McEachran, who made Krul work with a sharp shot. But Ancelotti then saw Benayoun pull up in similar fashion to Kalou and with all his replacements used his team were down to 10 men for the closing 25 minutes. Anelka had not given up the fight with his fifth goal of the season, finishing from Van Aanholt’s ball from the left. Alex was lucky to win a late penalty before Anelka’s cool finish forced a helter-skelter climax.
Guardian Service
CHELSEA: Turnbull, Ferreira, Terry (Alex 46), Bruma, Van Aanholt, Ramires, Benayoun, Zhirkov, Kakuta (Kalou 46), Anelka, Sturridge, Kalou (McEachran 56). Subs not used: Cech, Clifford, Mellis, Chalobah. Booked: Bruma.
NEWCASTLE UTD: Krul, Ryan Taylor (Tiote 63), Campbell, Coloccini (Williamson 63), Ferguson (Barton 90), Ranger, Gutierrez, Vuckic, Smith, Ameobi, Lovenkrands. Subs not used: Soderberg, Nolan, Carroll, Ben Arfa. Booked: Ryan Taylor, Ameobi, Tiote.
Referee: P Dowd(Staffordshire).
