“Those two gives us huge problems” “They will kill any team the other way” – Eddie Howe confesses two Chelsea players gave Newcastle United ‘problems’
In Chelsea’s 2-1 victory at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, Eddie Howe acknowledges that Newcastle United found it difficult to handle Cole Palmer and Nicolas Jackson.
Palmer gave Chelsea a great start to the match and appeared to have given them the lead in the first half before VAR ruled his shot offside.
Palmer then released Pedro Neto down Chelsea’s left flank with a brilliant ball, and Jackson met the Portuguese winger’s low cross with a close-range goal to open the scoring.
Newcastle equalised through Alexander Isak before the break but Palmer’s excellent finish two minutes after the restart sealed the victory for Chelsea.
Asked if Newcastle found it difficult in the opening stages of the game, Howe replied: ‘Yeah, it was.
‘I think Palmer’s got that ability, whatever space he has, to be able to wriggle out of tight situations.
‘Of course, if he has too much space he’ll kill you the other way. So we didn’t deal with him particularly well in that opening period of the game.
‘Jackson as well gave us problems but I thought we began to get a grip the longer the game went on. In that first half we scored a really good goal, I felt the momentum with us.
But the start of the second half, from a technical viewpoint, was disappointing and that ultimately cost us, I think.’