Chelsea vs Newcastle United. Premier League.
Stamford BridgeAttendance41,622.
Sunday 14 February 2016 07:34, UK
Pedro scored twice as Chelsea capitalised on a rapid start to rout a lacklustre Newcastle 5-1 at Stamford Bridge on Saturday Night Football.
The Blues raced into a 3-0 lead inside the opening 20 minutes as Diego Costa, Pedro and Willian all took advantage of some poor defending from the visitors.
Pedro added a fourth in the 59th minute before substitute Bertrand Traore finished from Cesar Azpilicueta's cross in the 83rd minute.
Andros Townsend scored a late consolation for Newcastle but it was not enough to prevent them dropping into the bottom three of the Premier League on goal difference.
Chelsea, meanwhile, climb up to 12th after extending their unbeaten league run under Guus Hiddink to 10 matches.
The only negative for the Blues ahead of their Champions League last-16 clash with Paris St-Germain on Tuesday was an injury to captain John Terry, who had to be replaced after 39 minutes.
Chelsea are already without Kurt Zouma after he suffered a knee injury against Manchester United, with Gary Cahill replacing the Frenchman against Newcastle and Eden Hazard making his first start since January 2.
Newcastle were unchanged from their win over West Brom but soon found themselves with a mountain to climb.
They fell behind after just five minutes as Willian slipped a pass through the defence for Costa, who got goalside of Steven Taylor and slid a shot past Rob Elliott.
The lead was doubled shortly afterwards as Pedro pounced on Aarons' underhit pass just inside his own half and raced clear before finishing from the edge of the box.
It got even worse for the visitors after 17 minutes as Costa, wearing a mask after breaking his nose in training, outpaced Fabricio Coloccini and fed a pass through for Willian to make it 3-0.
Branislav Ivanovic then had a shot blocked before Pedro saw a shot saved by Elliot after Jonjo Shelvey gifted the ball to Costa.
Newcastle's only chance of the first half came in the 35th minute when Georginio Wijnaldum shot at Thibaut Courtois from Daryl Janmaat's cross.
But Chelsea were dominant and the only negative for the hosts was seeing Terry limp off with injury.
Newcastle did threaten after the break as Cahill blocked from Shelvey and Aleksandar Mitrovic fired across goal.
But any faint hopes of a comeback were snuffed out on the hour mark as Pedro chested down Cesc Fabregas' pass over the top and slotted past Elliot.
Chelsea never looked like letting Newcastle back into the match and they added a fourth when Traore finished from Azpilicueta's cross.
Hazard contrived to miss from close range after a pass from Fabregas, before Townsend struck late on with a fine strike from the edge of the box.
Player ratings
Chelsea: Courtois (6), Ivanovic (7), Cahill (7), Terry (5), Azpilicueta (7), Fabregas (7), Matic (7), Pedro (8), Willian (8), Hazard (6), Diego Costa (8).
Subs: Baba (6), Traore (7), Loftus-Cheek (6).
Newcastle: Elliot (5), Janmaat (5), Taylor (4), Coloccini (5), Aarons (4), Shelvey (4), Tiote (4), Sissoko (5), Wijnaldum (4), Townsend (6), Mitrovic (4).
Subs: Colback (5), Lascelles (5), Doumbia (5).
Man of the match: Pedro.
