Newcastle United 0
Chelsea 3
Three goals.
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) October 30, 2021
Three points.
Top of the League.
Up the Chels! 👊#NewChe pic.twitter.com/TNPybyTLbo
REECE JAMES BANGED home a second-half double as Chelsea beat Newcastle 3-0 at St James’ Park to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League table.
England defender James produced a brilliant finish midway through the second period and then made it 2-0 by driving home a rebound before Jorginho sealed victory by converting a late penalty.
The Blues moved three points clear at the top with their fourth-successive Premier League win.
Defeat for managerless Newcastle saw them equal their longest winless run at the beginning of a top-flight season of 10 games, which was set in 1898 and 2018.
It was not the way interim-boss Graeme Jones wanted to hand over the reins, with Newcastle expected to appoint a permanent replacement for Steve Bruce before next week’s trip to Brighton.
Jones’ side made life difficult for Thomas Tuchel’s European champions, but they ran out of gas as Chelsea extended their unbeaten league run on the road this season to five matches.
Newcastle’s game-plan initially proved effective as they stifled the life out of Chelsea in a goalless, uneventful first half.
The Magpies were happy to let Chelsea have the ball, sitting deep and looking to hit them on the counter and were penned in for most of the first 45 minutes.
The home side’s best first-half chance came in the second minute when Ryan Fraser fired the ball across the face of goal, but nobody was close enough to get on the end of it.
Chelsea’s Hakim Ziyech thought he had scored with the game’s first shot on target in the 29th minute, but his effort was quickly ruled out for offside.
Ziyech should have given Chelsea the lead soon after when left unopposed on the left edge of the six-yard box, but he skied James’ ball over the crossbar.
Newcastle did all they could to slow the game down. Goalkeeper Karl Darlow was told to get a move on and Matt Ritchie was booked by referee Paul Tierney for delaying a throw-in, both before the interval.
The away side went close to breaking the deadlock early in the second half when Ziyech’s shot deflected off Jamaal Lascelles on to a post.
Jorginho then fired over and Chelsea’s frustrations were clear when N’Golo Kante – making his 200th Premier League appearance – and Ziyech were booked for rash challenges within the space of a few minutes.
But the visitors broke the deadlock in emphatic style in the 65th minute. Callum Hudson-Odoi’s cross fell to Reece on the right edge of the area and he slammed home a left-footed finish from a tight angle.
Chelsea began to find pockets of space as Newcastle legs tired and when Blues substitute Hudson-Odoi’s fierce drive struck Ciaran Clark, James thumped home his second in the 77th minute.
The visitors’ relentless approach was further rewarded three minutes later when Jorginho converted from the spot after Kai Havertz was tripped by Darlow.
Burnley 3
Brentford 1
FULL TIME | Burnley 3 - 1 Brentford
— Burnley FC (@BurnleyOfficial) October 30, 2021
A fantastic 3⃣ points for the Clarets, get in! 🤩#BURBRE | #UTC pic.twitter.com/ku5cP5FGa7
BURNLEY CELEBRATED THEIR first win of the Premier League season as they beat Brentford 3-1 at Turf Moor on the day Sean Dyche reached nine years as Clarets boss.
The hosts netted three times without reply in the first half, with Chris Wood lashing the opener past Premier League debutant Alvaro Fernandez in the fourth minute.
Matt Lowton added a header in the 32nd and Maxwel Cornet then struck to make it 3-0 four minutes later.
Brentford substitute Saman Ghoddos pulled a goal back with 11 minutes of normal time remaining, but the visitors were unable to spoil Dyche’s anniversary as his side took maximum points for the first time in 10 league outings this season, and 13 including the end of last term.
It saw Burnley move out of the relegation zone, up a place to 17th, while Thomas Frank’s Bees remain 12th after their third successive league defeat.
Burnley grabbed the lead early when Lowton lofted the ball forward on the right and Ethan Pinnock tried to intercept but could not prevent it running to Wood, who cracked a shot beyond Fernandez.
The hosts continued to push, with Wood causing further problems for Brentford and penalty appeals being waved away by referee Jon Moss after Ashley Westwood went down in the box.
And Burnley then had the ball in the net again on the quarter-hour mark, Cornet finishing having been teed up by Wood, only for the effort to be ruled out for offside via a VAR check.
An encouraging spell for Brentford followed, in which Ivan Toney brought a good save out of Nick Pope.
But soon after, it was Fernandez doing well to thwart Johann Berg Gudmundsson one-on-one, and moments later Burnley did double their advantage as Lowton rose to head in Charlie Taylor’s cross.
Clarets fans had barely finished celebrating that when Dyche’s men scored again as Cornet, in delightful fashion, notched his fourth goal in five league appearances since joining the club, bringing down a pass from Dwight McNeil and then smashing the ball past Fernandez from the edge of the box.
It could have got even worse for Brentford before the interval, with Wood seeing one shot deflected behind and sending another just over.
Wood then put a header wide shortly after the break, before Pope dived to push away a Christian Norgaard shot.
Lowton and McNeil made unsuccessful attempts with strikes around the hour mark, and Norgaard and Toney were subsequently off-target with efforts at the other end.
After McNeil sent a free-kick wide of the near post, Brentford then reduced the deficit via a superb volley from Ghoddos, but they could not make things any more nervy for Burnley in the closing stages.
Watford 0
Southampton 1
Off the mark in the #PL in style 🤩
— Southampton FC (@SouthamptonFC) October 30, 2021
Our verdict on #SaintsFC's first away league win of the season:
CHE ADAMS SCORED the only goal of the game as Southampton snatched a 1-0 victory over Watford at Vicarage Road.
Adams collected the ball on the edge of the area and turned before chipping the ball into the top corner and out of reach of the goalkeeper in the 19th minute.
Southampton had 12 shots but just one was on target as they secured a first away Premier League win since March.
It was a less eventful game for Claudio Ranieri after his Watford side shipped five goals against Liverpool only to score five themselves in his second game against Everton last weekend.
The Hornets remain without a home win since the opening day of the season, and despite their emphatic 5-2 win at Goodison Park are slipping closer towards the bottom three, with the gap now just three points.
There was an early scare for the home side as less than a minute had gone when the ball was played into the box by Nathan Redmond and deflected goalwards by Craig Cathcart, but Ben Foster was able to keep it out.
Shortly after Adam Armstrong had sent a header over the crossbar, the visitors took the lead when Adams got away from Cathcart in the middle of the pitch and was in the right place to capitalise on a loose ball.
He turned on the edge of the box and curled the ball into the roof of the net.
Watford came close to levelling after a swift counter-attack. Joshua King found Ismaila Sarr at the back post but his shot was cleared off the line after hitting a post and then Kyle Walker-Peters’ backside.
Adams spurned an opportunity to double Southampton’s advantage shortly before the break.
Watford looked to get on the front foot at the start of the second half and King picked out Juraj Kucka but he fired over.
Kucka had another opportunity from range shortly afterwards but again it was wide of the target, while Adam Masina’s deep cross into the area was just ahead of King at the far post.
Armstrong weaved his way into the Watford box moments later and managed to get a shot off but the ball deflected narrowly wide of the target.
Southampton goalkeeper Alex McCarthy made an instinctive diving save to deny King a fourth goal in two games as the visitors held on.
