Cole Palmer starred with a goal and an assist as Chelsea beat Newcastle United 3-2 in a duel between two teams battling for European qualification.

The Chelsea midfielder’s first-half shot was flicked in by Nicolas Jackson and, although Alexander Isak equalised just before half-time, Palmer restored the hosts’ lead with a fierce second-half strike for his 11th Premier League goal of the season, before substitutes Mykhailo Mudryk and Jacob Murphy traded goals.

Palmer has now both scored and assisted in five top-flight matches this season, more than any other player.

While they still lie 11th, Chelsea have now taken eight points from a run of four unbeaten matches and are just one point behind Newcastle, while they are only four points behind seventh-placed West Ham United.

How the match unfolded

Mauricio Pochettino made two changes to the side that drew 2-2 against Brentford, with Raheem Sterling and Marc Cucurella replacing Ben Chilwell and Levi Colwill.

Newcastle also made two changes, Tino Livramento and Miguel Almiron replacing the injured Kieran Trippier and Harvey Barnes.

Chelsea made a dream start, scoring on six minutes for their earliest goal of the season and their fastest at home in the Premier League since December 2018 against Fulham.

Malo Gusto’s low cross forced a miscued clearance from Sven Botman and the ball fell kindly to Palmer, who unleashed a low strike from the edge of the box that was brilliantly flicked in by Nicolas Jackson for his ninth goal of the season. 

Chelsea looked comfortable and Newcastle suffered another blow in the 36th minute as Anthony Gordon limped off. But Pochettino’s side failed to press home their advantage and allowed their visitors to equalise with their first shot on target in the 43rd minute.

Chelsea lost the ball in midfield and Bruno Guimaraes found Isak, who placed a clinical side-footed finish into the bottom-right corner from the edge of the box for his 12th Premier League goal of the season, and his first ever in the competition from outside the penalty area.

Three minutes later Chelsea had the ball in the back of the net through Jackson, but the forward’s goal was ruled out for offside. Sterling also had a chance to restore Chelsea’s lead but his strike was comfortably saved by Martin Dubravka, while at the other end Joe Willock got in behind but was unable to finish.

Chelsea’s right-sided duo of Gusto and Palmer continued to cause Newcastle problems in the second half and looked the likeliest avenue for the Blues to get the winner.

Sure enough, in the 57th minute Palmer received Enzo Fernandez’s pass in the pocket outside the box and unleashed a wonderful strike into the bottom-right corner. It was Fernandez’s first assist in the Premier League this season.

Minutes later, a flick from Jackson played Sterling through on goal, but as the forward rounded Dubravka and shot, Dan Burn was there to clear the ball off the line.  

Burn had a chance to equalise as he headed wide from Almiron’s free-kick, but instead Chelsea made it 3-1 in the 75th minute.

Jackson drove from the halfway line and found Conor Gallagher, before substitute Mudryk took the ball off his team-mate and showed a moment of brilliance to nutmeg Fabian Schar before rounding Dubravka.

Mudryk has now contributed to goals in his last three Premier League home matches, scoring two and assisting one.

Newcastle substitute Murphy gave Chelsea a late scare when he made it 3-2 in the 90th minute, firing a thunderous strike into the top-right corner.

But the Magpies were unable to find an equaliser, and suffered a second defeat in three matches.

Club reports

Chelsea report | Newcastle report

Match officials

Referee: John Brooks. Assistants: Lee Betts, Neil Davies. Fourth official: Craig Pawson. VAR: Jarred Gillett. Assistant VAR: Adrian Holmes.