Newcastle United £103m boost as Anthony Gordon hits back at major snub v Chelsea - five things

Newcastle United strolled to a 4-1 win over Chelsea at St James' Park on Saturday afternoon - here are five talking points from the match.

Newcastle United's substitute bench v Chelsea as injuries take their toll

When the team news dropped at 2pm at St James' Park, there were few surprises in terms of Newcastle's starting line-up, but their bench was interesting, to say the least.

Goalkeepers Martin Dubravka, Mark Gillespie and Loris Karius were all named as substitutes along with Matt Ritchie, Paul Dummett and four academy players.

In addition to Lewis Miley starting in midfield, Amadou Diallo, Alex Murphy, Michael Ndiweni and Ben Parkinson were on the bench.

In what was a great moment for The Magpies' academy came from a situation of injury adversity for Eddie Howe's side with 13 first-team players unavailable for the match.

In addition to the expected absences, Sean Longstaff was ruled out with an ankle injury, Emil Krafth was ill and Joe Willock suffered a setback with his Achilles which requires specialist assessment.

Newcastle United's £103m boost v Chelsea

For all Newcastle's injury troubles, there were two welcome returns to the starting line-up with Alexander Isak back after a month out injured and Bruno Guimaraes returning from suspension with the bleched blonde hair back on display.

And it took Isak just 13 minutes to get back amongst the goals on his return to the side as Miley threaded a well-weighted pass through to the Swede who took a touch and applied the finish was typical calmness and composure to give the hosts the lead.

The advantage lasted just 10 minutes before Raheem Sterling curled in a free-kick to make it 1-1.

But that would be all the visitors would have to really shout about on Saturday afternoon as Newcastle took control of the match. A big reason behind that was Guimaraes' controlling display at the heart of the midfield.

While Miley and Joelinton were lively around him, Guimaraes pulled the strings and brought the class on the ball that Newcastle simply lacked last time out at Bournemouth.

It's no secret that The Magpies have not won a Premier League game the Brazilian hasn't featured in since he joined the club in January 2022. And performances like Saturday make it easy to see why.

While the 26-year-old wasn't directly involved in any goals Newcastle scored, his confidence in possession spread throughout the side as the hosts went on to claim a comfortable win with a dominant second-half display.

Jamaal Lascelles' half-time 'change'

Newcastle skipper Jamaal Lascelles had a difficult first half as he gifted Chelsea possession for Sterling's equaliser and generally appeared to be moving awkwardly.

After the match, Howe explained: "I think he had a slight problem with his boot in that first half, so I think that was sorted at half-time and then he's responded really well."

Despite an early hiccup in the second half which saw Lascelles give away the ball cheaply once again, the centre-back reacted well and saw Newcastle re-take the lead with a powerful header from Anthony Gordon's cross into the box on the hour mark.

“I have to say, Anthony Gordon's cross was sublime and Jamaal put it away really well," Howe said. "Those chances, as we saw in the first half with Joelinton's header, aren't as easy as sometimes they look and it was a really big moment for us because we needed that positive momentum to go our way today, but we had to create that and that second goal was key."

Newcastle didn't look back from that point on as Joelinton, who had experienced a difficult match himself at times, pounced on a Thiago Silva mistake to make it 3-1 just a minute later.

Gordon emphatic

Reece James...

What crisis?

Classy flex Lascelles changed boot. . NUFC hadn't lost a 3pm kick-off in the Premier League since losing 3-0 to Chelsea in October 2021.