Chelsea pushed clear at the top of the Premier League after beating Newcastle 2-0 thanks to goals from Oscar and Diego Costa.
Having failed to claim victory in their previous two Premier League outings, Jose Mourinho's title hopefuls were not at their best on Saturday and were fortunate not to go behind. Newcastle were the better team for spells of the first half and hit the woodwork through Moussa Sissoko's powerful effort at 0-0.
But Chelsea's resilience, particularly defensively, held them in good stead at Stamford Bridge, and they rode the storm to score with their first shot on target, through Oscar.
Diego Costa's goal after the break, following a lovely build-up and sumptuous assist by Oscar, helped secure all three points and puts the Blues two points clear of Manchester City at the top of the table, following the champions' 1-1 draw with Everton.
- Oscar scored with Chelsea’s second shot of the game and their first on target. Newcastle had had 9 shots (5 on target) before the Chelsea midfielder netted.
- Indeed overall, the Magpies had more total shots than the Blues in this game (11 to 9).
- Branislav Ivanovic has assisted a goal in his last 2 Premier League appearances; this after going 32 games without 1.
- Diego Costa has scored in consecutive league games for the first time since November.
- Chelsea have won all 10 home league games this season, scoring at least twice in each.
- The Blues are only the fifth team in Premier League history to win their opening 10 home games (Newcastle 1995/96, Chelsea 2005/06, Man City 2011/12 and 2013/14).
- Oscar has scored 1 and assisted 5 in his last 8 league games.
- Jose Mourinho’s side have kept 5 successive clean sheets at Stamford Bridge and have 8 in 10 this season on home soil.
- The Magpies have only won 2 of their last 16 away league games (D3 L11).
Analyse Chelsea 2-0 Newcastle using Stats Zone
