LONDON/NEWCASTLE — After ninety minutes of footballing action at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea and Crystal Palace could not be kept apart as both teams shared the points after a 1-1 draw. Tottenham Hotspur, on the other hand, faced their first defeat of the season after a 2-1 loss against Newcastle at St James Park.
The Blues dominated possession in the opening quarter of an hour and went close to scoring when Cole Palmer, who was presented with his PFA Young Player of the Year award pre-match in front of the Stamford Bridge faithful, curled a 20-yard shot just wide of the far post.
Chelsea’s lone goal of the match came in the 25th minute through a slick counter-attack and after receiving the ball deep in his own half, Madueke skipped past Will Hughes and after progressing the ball 30 yards, slipped in Palmer, who had burst into the box, and his neat reverse flick, beat the diving Henderson and was tapped in at the far post by Jackson.
But it was Crystal Palace who were to score the game's second goal. The Blues were unable to fully clear an attack and after gathering the ball, Wharton dribbled into the box. Wesley Fofana made an impressive block initially to deny Cheick Doucoure's shot from the edge of the box but the ball fell to the feet of Eberechi Eze and he curled the ball past the diving Sanchez from 20 yards out.
Chelsea dropped valuable points at home but St James Park is one of the most difficult venues to play at in the Premier League and it was Tottenham who struck first in the 12th minute but Cristian Romero’s goal was adjudged offside. The Toons took the lead in the 37th minute of the game through Harvey Barnes’ right-footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom right corner. It was assisted by Lloyd Kelly with a cross.
Barnes’ goal was the only one of the first half as the home side took the lead into half-time. However, they did not hold the slender advantage for too long when Dan Burns put the ball into his own net which brought Tottenham level.
It was none other than Newcastle’s prized forward Alexander Isak who scored the winner for his side in the 78th minute through a left-footed shot from very close range to the centre of the goal which was assisted by Jacob Murphy.