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Chelsea	3 - 1	Newcastle United
Half time:	1 - 1
Score Sheet:
(37) Zola (62) Poyet  (79) Gronkjaer		Bassedas (23)
	Teams
Cudicini Ferrer Babayaro Leboeuf Melchiot Poyet Wise Le Saux Dalla Bona Zola Hasselbaink		Given Barton Quinn Goma Hughes Solano Acuna Bassedas Speed Dyer Ameobi
Substitutes:
Gronkjaer for Le Saux (30) Gudjohnsen for Zola (84) Stanic for Poyet (87)		Lua-Lua for Dyer (78) Cordone for Ameobi (78)
Subs not used:
de Goey Jokanovic		Karelse Marcelino Griffin
Bookings:
Gronkjaer (56)		Barton (43) Bassedas (65)
Referee: Mark Halsey (Welwyn Garden City).
Attendance: 35,108. Just 13 lower than their highest of the season.

23 mins Kieron Dyer ran down the right and took on Le Boeuf inside the area, beating him with ease and crossing from the byline. Shola Ameobi couldn't quite reach it with his head but it fell for Christian Bassedas, who controlled the ball before poking it into the far corner. 1-0

37 mins A fabulous strike from Gianfranco Zola, cutting in from the left flank and evading a couple of tackles before curling a beauty into the top corner. 1-1

Half time: Chelsea 1 Newcastle 1

62 mins Hasselbaink centred from the Chelsea right and Gus Poyet got ahead of his mark to guide it pefectly into the far corner. 1-2

79 mins The ball broke for Gronkjaer on the left side of the penalty area and he smashed it past Shay Given.  1-3

Full time: Chelsea 3 Newcastle 1

Uncle Bobby said: 

"I'll have to kill Poyet one day, he's the bane of my life!

Claudio Ranieri said very little but.... 

Gianfranco Zola said:

"Europe is something very important for Chelsea. They have invested a lot of money to be in Europe and with the quality of the team, we deserve to be there. It's down to us to make it happen."

Fellow goalscorer Gustavo Poyet was praised in a roundabout way by Zola, who added: "There are many people who are sick of Gus!

"He not only scores against Newcastle, he scores many important goals and is one of the best players I have played with."

Christian Bassedas scored his first goal for United.

While many theories have been expounded to explain our inability to win in the South East (global warming, price of drink, gypsy curse etc.) Bobby Robson was spot on tonight, when he simply stated that we are often beaten by superior opposition in that there London.

While never the duck shoot that was the Highbury debacle, our trip to Stamford Bridge again exposed the cracks in our fragile armour. Injuries had again meant that we were unable to field a settled lineup, and although Kieron Dyer was back, he was obviously less than 100%. The real problems came with the loss of the hard-running Gallacher and inspirational Lee, cornerstones of the Leeds victory.

Had those two been absent at Elland Road, it's doubtful whether we would have walked away with all three points - here we were simply short-handed in all departments. Acuna found little opportunity to press forward, and although Bassedas was involved for most of the ninety minutes, his impact after scoring our goal was limited, partly due to the second half disappearance of Gary Speed. 

Up front, the aforementioned Dyer understandably faded from the action, and the guile and resilience that an experienced campaigner like Shearer would have provided was never going to be forthcoming from a youngster like Shola. 

Once Chelsea had equalised our opener with a quality Zola strike, a certain air of the inevitable seemed to settle over the toon support and sure enough, our lack of attacking presence meant that the home side could commit bodies to the attack as they sought a second goal. 

That said, some good work was still being done in keeping out the blue hordes, notably Goma's shackling of Hasselbaink, and a third goal for Chelsea was slightly harsh on us. 

It's difficult to be upset about this loss, for the simple reason it was totally expected, not least because of the London blind spot and our depleted numbers, but also because Ranieri has assembled a bloody good team with a formidable home record. 

It's also pertinent to point out that Newcastle hace now failed to beat Chelsea in seven league and cup meetings - a run that stretches back to May 1998. It's almost as if we now expect to lose to this lot, regardless of location.

We now have one more chance to have our long-overdue VL (Victory in London) day, a week on Sunday at Charlton in front of the TV cameras. Otherwise this unwanted record will extend through to next season, when we will almost certainly have a new foe to face,  in the form of Fulham. 

Given the lack of London teams in the bottom half of the Premiership, it's almost certain that this will be at the expense of one of the Northern ones.

As they used to say during the War, it'll be over by Xmas.....we're just not sure which one....

Biffa

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