Chelsea 1-0 Newcastle: Marcos Alonso seals tight Premier League win for Blues
MALIK OUZIA 
Saturday 19 October 2019 16:51 

Chelsea made it five wins on the spin in all competitions as Marcos Alonso’s second half strike secured victory over Newcastle at Stamford Bridge.

The Spanish full back’s 73rd minute effort proved enough to earn a 1-0 win over Steve Bruce’s side and move into the top four.

Chelsea made just once change to the side that had hammered Southampton before the international break, with N’Golo Kante, injured on duty with France, replaced by Ross Barkley.

The visitors looked a threat on the break from the off, with Allan Saint-Maximin particularly lively, but Willian should have opened the scoring when heading Callum Hudson-Odoi’s cross wide from close range.

Hudson-Odoi was the hosts’ creative spark, teeing up Mason Mount to test Martin Dubravka and causing Ciaran Clark all manner of problems, though the defender went close at the other end on the stroke of half-time, seeing his strike blocked on the angle.

The Blues lost Ross Barkley to injury just before the interval leaving Lampard shaking his head as he walked down the tunnel, but his mood was very nearly lifted by Tammy Abraham shortly after the break, only for his header to come back off the crossbar.

Abraham then missed a better chance, heading over the bar from a similar position but under far less pressure, before substitute Christian Pulisic was denied by a sprawling stop from Martin Dubravka after Hudson-Odoi’s shot was deflected into his path.

Finally though, the pressure told 17 minutes from time, when Pulisic crossed for Hudson-Odoi, who controlled and laid into the path of Alonso for the Spaniard to drill low through Dubravka.

They would have added some late gloss to the scoreline, had it not been for a miraculous piece of defending from DeAndre Yedlin, who slid in heroically to deflect what would have been an open-goal tap-in from Abraham over the bar.