London - Chelsea ended their wait for a first home Premier League win under
Guus Hiddink with a 5-1 demolition of struggling Newcastle on Saturday.
Hiddink's
side had drawn all four of their league fixtures at Stamford Bridge
since the Dutchman replaced the sacked Jose Mourinho as interim manager
in December.
But Diego Costa opened the floodgates with an early
goal before Pedro's double and further strikes from Willian and Bertrand
Traore sealed Chelsea's biggest league win of a traumatic campaign.
The
only complication was Blues captain John Terry going off injured after
37 minutes, having been involved in an early collision with Aleksandar
Mitrovic.
Terry could now be a doubt for Tuesday's Champions League last 16 first leg tie against Paris Saint Germain.
This
was otherwise the perfect preparation for that crucial trip to Paris as
Chelsea put in a brilliant attacking display -- with Pedro particularly
impressive -- although it was hard to know how much of that was down to
Newcastle's awful defending.
Steve McClaren's side look in real
danger of relegation after dropping back into the bottom three below
Norwich on goal difference.
The game was ended as a contest almost
as soon as it began, with Chelsea scoring after five minutes thanks to
hapless Newcastle defending.
Willian turned Cheick Tiote near the
centre circle, and proceeded to stride through the opposition half with
yards of space around him.
He played a ball in for Spain striker
Costa, who turned the ball past Newcastle goalkeeper Rob Elliot with a
neat finish for his eighth goal in 11 games.
Newcastle, by contrast, look as bad as they did at the start of the season.
Their display just got worse, as they then contrived to give Pedro the chance to demonstrate his lethal finishing.
- Precise -From Newcastle's own corner, the ball was booted up to Steven Taylor on the halfway line.
He attempted a pass across the field, only to play it straight into the path of Pedro, who had sprinted from his own box.
Offered
a clear run on goal, the Spanish winger opted to wrong-foot Elliot with
a finish from distance, hitting a precise low shot into the corner.
Newcastle's defence was all over the place and, on 17 minutes, they allowed Chelsea to make it 3-0.
Costa returned the favour for Willian, playing a nice pass across goal for the Brazilian to easily finish.
Terry
never recovered from his collision with Mitrovic and had to go off
after 37 minutes for Baba Rahman, walking straight down the tunnel to
spark fears about his prospect of facing PSG.
By that point, the
entire game was just about keeping the team ticking over for the
European tie and Chelsea kept the scoreline ticking over too.
Newcastle
did enjoy a spell of attacking play at the start of the second half,
but that only meant they also left more space in behind for the home
side to exploit.
Cesc Fabregas was given the freedom of the
midfield on 59 minutes, just as Willian had been for the opening goal,
and that allowed him to precisely pick out and execute an arching pass
for Pedro.
The winger took it down, swiftly worked his way into the box and rolled the ball past Elliot to make it four.
Chelsea
were putting in a near-perfect attacking performance that reached a
pleasing crescendo when youth graduate Traore came off the bench to
score his first goal for the club.
A fine move saw Cesar
Azpilicueta play a low ball across the box and the Burkina Faso
international was there to slide home his first Premier League goal.
That
didn't quite conclude the scoring as Newcastle winger Andros Townsend
netted with a fine strike from 20 yard in the last minute.
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