Flashback: Without Wilson, Newcastle lose to Chelsea at St. James’ Park

After their hard-fought win vs. Southampton, Newcastle United will face Chelsea on Monday. They will be without Javi Manquillo, Fabian Schar, and Callum Wilson. Unfortunately, this will be the second time this season that they face the Blues without their star striker.

Back in late November, with Joelinton starting for an injured Wilson, we got a Steve Bruce Special at St. James’ Park. He lined the Magpies up with five at the back and parked the bus, carrying around 20% of possession for large stretches of the match.

Unfortunately, despite the defensive-approach, Newcastle would concede twice on the day. In the first ten minutes, Federico Fernandez stumbled and redirected a Chelsea cross into the back of his own net. The central defender contested that Ben Chilwell pushed him in the back, but slight contact didn’t seem to be enough to cause the stumble or the own goal. Even with a multitude of close calls, the scoreline remained 1-0 entering halftime.

In the second half, like a flash, Newcastle gave up another goal. Picking up possession in his own defensive half, Timo Werner blazed through the Newcastle midfield and defense, Sean Longstaff and Fernandez in particular, and played a nice pass over to Tammy Abraham. After some near-misses in the first half, the Chelsea striker converted and put the Blues up 2-0.

The best chance going the opposite direction was a Sean Longstaff shot that rang off the crossbar. Despite the poor performance, Newcastle actually won their next two matches after this fixture. Those would be the final two wins before the disastrous winless streak that only recently ended.