Chelsea suffered their first defeat of the season at Newcastle as substitute striker Papiss Cisse scored twice for the Magpies.
Two second half goals from Cisse made the job difficult for Chelsea, and despite Steven Taylor’s red card, the Blues did not manage to find a way back.
Didier Drogba bagged Chelsea’s goal at St James’ Park, but even six added minutes did not make a difference for Jose Mourinho’s side.
First Half
John Obi Mikel got his first Premier League start of the season as Nemanja Matic was out with suspension, and it was Chelsea that started the game best.
Willian got the first attempts of the game as he twice fired from outside the box. On both occasions though, the ball went wide of the goal.
Just after the half hour mark, Newcastle got their first real chance of the game. Jack Colback was played through but an alert Thibaut Courtois quickly came off his line to block the attempt.
A quiet first half ended with a spectacular overhead kick attempt from Oscar but again the Blues were disappointed to see the effort go wide.
Second half
Newcastle clearly had a game plan that allowed them to hit Chelsea on the break and on 57 minutes it paid off for the home side.
Sammy Ameobi burst down the left side and crossed across the floor to an unmarked Cisse inside the six-yard box.
From there, the substitute had no problems putting the home side in front to John Terry’s frustration.
Mourinho, who has never won at St James’ Park as a manager, must have feared the worst as Newcastle got the opening goal, and unfortunately it was all going to get worse from there.
12 minutes before the end Branislav Ivanovic crossed the ball from his right side. Eden Hazard met the ball and curled it towards the bottom corner, but was unfortunate only to hit the post.
Newcastle immediately tried to hit Chelsea on the break and despite being stopped twice they won the ball back in the centre of the park.
Moussa Sissoko was through on goal but a bad touch forced him to square it to Cisse who had a simple task of getting his second goal of the day.
Steven Taylor was then sent off for a second bookable offense and Cesc Fabregas crossed to Drogba to get one back for Chelsea.
Despite multiple attempts in the last 13 minutes, including stoppage time, the equaliser never came and our lead at the top of the table was cut to just three points.
Next up is Sporting Lisbon at home in the Champions League on Wednesday before Hull City travel to Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Courtois; Ivanovic, Cahill, Terry (c), Azpilicueta (Drogba 66); Fabregas, Mikel; Willian (Filipe Luis 66), Oscar (Schurrle 59), Hazard; Diego Costa
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