Rafa Benitez: Top 5 matches with Newcastle in the Premier League
By Durim Halimi
5. Newcastle United 3-0 Chelsea (May 13, 2018)
This was the final match of the 2017-18 Premier League campaign and Newcastle ran riot on Chelsea with three goals while maintaining an impressive clean sheet against the London-based club. Newcastle had already secured their survival and this match meant nothing to them, yet they still gave maximum effort and played with plenty of urgency for the 52,000 fans in attendance.
After going seven points clear of Arsenal, Chelsea had secured a spot in the UEFA Europa League, but they still brought their big guns to the game. Despite the quality of the opposition, Benitez decided to play toe-to-toe with a team that handed his Magpies a thrashing 3-1 defeat at Stamford Bridge earlier in the season.
Newcastle dominated this match from start to finish as they bombarded Thibaut Courtois’s goal with 16 shot attempts and scored three quality goals in the process. Dwight Gayle, who is now out on loan at West Brom, scored in the 23rd minute and Ayoze Perez scored a brace in four minutes in the second half.
Although this match might seem like it was meaningless to some of you, it made the list at number five for two key reasons. Firstly, the match was not all that meaningless because Newcastle would have finished the season in 14th place without this win and the club would have missed out on a lot of money if they finished below the top 10.
Secondly, pride was on the line and the players showed that they were proud to play for Newcastle. St. James’ Park was booming on the final day and the players’ hard work over the course of the season was rewarded with a big win over an elite opponent that barely missed out on playing UEFA Champions League football.