Chelsea just about deserved the lead, for while they had enjoyed the
majority of possession, they kept Krul busy without stretching the
Newcastle goalkeeper. Hazard shot straight at Krul after John Obi Mikel
had put him through, then Ryan Bertrand also fired at the goalkeeper
when set up by Torres from Branislav Ivanovic's deep cross.
While Chelsea moved the ball quickly between themselves and supported
the man on the ball in numbers Newcastle's front two were isolated.
Hatem Ben Arfa showed plenty of skill but found himself marked by not
one, but two England left-backs with Bertrand playing in front of Ashley
Cole. Cissé and Demba Ba are however, a dangerous pair even when
feeding off scraps and Cissé tested Cech's concentration with a
snap-shot towards the end of the half.
By then the Bridge was in uproar after the referee, Phil Dowd, booked
Torres for diving. The striker had turned Fabricio Coloccini in
midfield then tumbled over the defender's trailing leg. There was
contact but, to Chelsea's fury, Dowd judged Torres had run into
Coloccini deliberately. The Spaniard's response was perfect. As
first-half injury time ticked away he received a pass from Juan Mata,
fed Hazard then ran onto the Belgian's back-heeled pass before driving
the ball past Krul with the outside of his boot to double the advantage.
Newcastle's manager Alan Pardew continued to ring the changes but
Sylvain Marveaux would have needed to be a magician indeed to turn this
game around.
Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Cech; Ivanovic, Cahill, Luiz, Cole; Mikel,
Meireles (Lampard, 87); Mata (Ramires, 67), Hazard, Bertrand; Torres.
Newcastle United (4-4-2): Krul; Simpson R Taylor, 64) S Taylor,
Coloccini, Santon (Marveaux, 75); Ben Arfa, Anita, Cabaye (Perch, 77),
Guttierez; Ba, Cissé.
