Six minutes after Nicolas Jackson, a Senegal striker for Chelsea, deflected a Palmer shot past goalkeeper Martin Dubravka, the home team allowed Newcastle to equalize through Alexander Isak, who curled a shot past the diving Djordje Petrovic in the 43rd minute.
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Encouraged by their supporters, who had turned against Pochettino and the club’s American owners during a 2-2 draw at Brentford nine days prior, Chelsea took the lead again in the 57th minute when Palmer, the team’s top scorer this year and a candidate to represent England in the Euros, scored from outside the area.
In the 76th minute, Mykhailo Mudryk, a substitute, made it 3-1 by slicing past Dubravka and scoring from within the Newcastle defense. In the ninetieth minute, a hard strike by Jacob Murphy gave the visitors hope, but Chelsea held on.
With a game remaining, Chelsea’s victory moved them up to 11th place, one spot and one point ahead of Newcastle. The Blues would move up to seventh place and within striking distance of either the Europa League Conference or the Europa League with three more points.
Both teams have fallen short of the expectations of their wealthy owners, with Eddie Howe at Newcastle and Pochettino at Chelsea facing equally intense scrutiny.
The home crowd’s rendition of the Bob Marley song “Don’t worry about a thing” as they departed Stamford Bridge on Monday gave the Argentine cause for relief, indicating that majority of them may still be patient with Pochettino’s attempts to assemble a team from his pricey but young roster.
“We played a very good team with amazing players, it was really tough,” he stated to the BBC. “We won, but we’re not done yet; the three points are what matter most. We’ll keep pushing forward and looking forward.
“We have to acknowledge that we are creating something new. The fans were great today; we must continue to move forward and remain resilient.”
Chelsea’s only remaining chance to win a trophy is to compete in the FA Cup, where they will play second-tier Leicester City at home on Sunday in the round of eight. Newcastle needs to recover quickly in order to go to Manchester City on Saturday for their own quarterfinal match.
Howe expressed his frustration that Newcastle’s careless defense proved to be their downfall.
According to him, “I thought we were good in lots of aspects of our play tonight,” on talkSPORT radio. “You can’t concede goals like that, home or away, and expect to win the game, simple as that.”
William Schomberg reported, and Ken Ferris edited.
