Daniel Sturridge goal seals controversial Chelsea win at Newcastle

Beating Newcastle is no mean feat these days and Chelsea returned to something like their fluent best in becoming the first visiting team to win on Tyneside this season. Their defence stood solid against some enterprising home attacks, with Oriol Romeu looking assured in front of the back four and Daniel Sturridge, Juan Mata and Ramires all showing speed of thought as well as movement. Newcastle were unhappy with a couple of refereeing decisions, and had every right to be, though there was no denying that, with slightly calmer finishing, Chelsea could have scored a hatful of goals. "You could say 3-0 was excessive, but it was the fairest of results because of the number of times we were one on one with the goalkeeper," André Villas-Boas said. Alan Pardew agreed with that. "Tim Krul was outstanding," he said. "His penalty save alone was fantastic and he didn't deserve to be beaten three times." The Newcastle manager did not agree with Villas-Boas's assertion that it was about time a refereeing decision went in Chelsea's favour, however. Pardew felt David Luiz should have been dismissed right at the start. "I can't understand why the referee didn't send him off," he said. "It could have been a very different afternoon." The controversy arrived in the fifth minute, when Peter Lovenkrands split the Chelsea defence with an alert through-ball and Demba Ba stole a march on David Luiz, obliging the Brazilian defender to haul him down on the edge of the area. It could only be regarded as a professional foul: Willie Young himself could hardly have acted more cynically. David Luiz was the last defender and as Ba was about to stride into an empty penalty area it was clearly a goalscoring opportunity – yet, to the disgust of the home crowd, Mike Dean produced only a yellow. What going down to 10 men so early would have done for Chelsea's confidence can only be guessed at, but the referee spared them that. Dean was not spared from Pardew making his feelings known at the earliest opportunity. So the Newcastle fans were not best pleased when Jones awarded Chelsea a penalty a mere seven minutes later, though there could be little argument that Yohan Cabaye had fouled Sturridge after the forward had sprinted easily past Ryan Taylor and into the area. Krul dived to his left to make a fine stop from Frank Lampard's effort from the spot. But when the goalkeeper was called upon again, to tip a Sturridge shot onto his post from Chelsea's next attack, it was clear that the visitors had the pace to cause Newcastle problems and Ryan Taylor, in particular, was in for a busy day. Sturridge was breaking clear almost at will by the mid-point of the first half, and should have put his side ahead from a couple of decent shooting opportunities instead of finding Krul's arms and then the side-netting. It was not quite all Chelsea, though. Petr Cech had to make a sharp save to deny Ba when Lovenkrands crossed from the left. Then, after Mata had bamboozled Danny Simpson with the deftest of flicks to set up a chance for Didier Drogba, it was Newcastle's turn to hit the woodwork after a patient buildup, Ba heading Danny Guthrie's cross against a post. All a lively game needed was a goal and it arrived seven minutes before the interval in a slightly contentious manner. The referee awarded Chelsea a throw-in near the corner flag after Branislav Ivanovic's cross seemed to have flown straight into touch: Dean indicated to puzzled Newcastle players that the ball had come off Ryan Taylor's forehead. Evidently too aggrieved to take up their defensive positions properly, Newcastle's markers simply watched as Mata collected Ashley Cole's throw and crossed for Drogba to beat Krul with a free header. Newcastle's hopes of getting back into the game seemed to recede when Fabricio Coloccini withdrew before the interval and Hatem Ben Arfa failed to appear for the second half, though both sides came close to scoring in the 55th minute. First Drogba crashed a header against his own crossbar while trying to prevent Ba from reaching a Cabaye corner, then, straight from the rebound, Mata sent Sturridge racing clear to put Ramires one on one with Krul, only for the keeper to collect a hesitant finish. The nearest thing to an equaliser came when Sammy Ameobi beat Cech, but found John Terry standing on the line, and the moment most deserving of one arrived 10 minutes from time, when Shola Ameobi took Simpson's pass and hit a terrific shot against the bar from the edge of the area. If Newcastle were unlucky, Sturridge should have killed the contest six minutes from the end, when Raul Meireles and Salomon Kalou left him with only Krul to beat. Again, the goalkeeper stood up to him. Krul must have been feeling invincible at close range by the end. In the 89th minute, however, Kalou finally scored the second. Sturridge's stoppage-time third was just cruel, making it appear that Newcastle had been trounced. That was far from the case, though Chelsea had missed an awful lot of chances. "It was a very difficult game," Drogba confirmed. "We have not been in our best moment recently and we were glad to get the three points."