The main talking points and moments missed from Chelsea’s hard-fought 2-2 draw with Newcastle United at St. James’ Park on

Chelsea players argue with Yoane Wissa(Image: Andy Buchanan/AFP)

You expect a few things when you go to Newcastle. Encountering a Greggs at every corner, bars everywhere filled to the brim, and Chelsea struggling at St. James’ Park.

That very much was the case for the Blues in the first-half on Saturday afternoon. Newcastle dominated Enzo Maresca’s side in every aspect; they were quicker to every ball, stronger in every duel and dynamic in their attack. Nick Woltemade looked like a man possessed. A striker the west Londoners looked at signing in the summer, Woltemade, who ended up moving to Newcastle for £69million, reminded Blues chiefs of his quality with a first-half double on Tyneside.

But in a game of nearly-transfers, Joao Pedro had the last laugh. The Brazil international was wanted in the summer by Newcastle, but instead chose to join up with Chelsea at the Club World Cup. The 24-year-old forward took advantage of a slip from Malick Thiaw to level the match and secure a point for the Blues.

It was the scorer of Chelsea’s first goal, though, that is deservedly taking all the plaudits. As he has been from the first ball kicked this season, Reece James was absolutely fantastic in Newcastle. James put in an inspiring display in midfield, before eventually switching back to a more conventional right-back role. Yes, his free-kick was masterful, but it was hardly surprising. Something arguably equally impressive was the last-ditch tackle he put in to deny Harvey Barnes what looked like a certain goal with not long of the game left.

James was undoubtedly one of the numerous positives from a yo-yo Chelsea display. Another one was giving 80 minutes to Cole Palmer. The 23-year-old has now played three times since returning from a lengthy absence because of injury and Maresca is cautiously building his fitness up again.

Palmer was left out of Tuesday night’s travelling squad for the win over Cardiff City in the Carabao Cup quarter-final, with Maresca managing the England international’s workload. He was, however, called upon from the start at St. James’ and ended up playing the majority of the game.

There was a moment in the second-half where someone from the Chelsea bench – it is unclear who, but it may have been Maresca – shouted over to Palmer to see how he was doing fitness-wise. While what was said was inaudible, it was clear Palmer was asked how much longer he can play for. Palmer responded by holding 10 fingers up to suggest he could play another 10 minutes. In modern day football with all of the sports science involved, common sense – asking a player how he is – prevailed on this occasion.

Palmer had his moments on Tyneside but did not look at his absolute best. It’s understandable given the lack of football he has played this season, and the game state. None of Chelsea’s attackers looked anything like themselves in the first-half, while some improved in the second period.

The first-half, though, was what Chelsea have come to expect from St. James’ Park. The supporters, even if it was 12:30pm on a Saturday afternoon, played a huge part in making the visitors suffer. A few Chelsea players seemed rattled. They would argue that the referee, Andrew Madley, did not help that with some of his decisions.

There were two instances where Chelsea had a man down injured, firstly Malo Gusto and then Palmer a little later on in the first-half, and Newcastle – as they were entitled to do – played on and attacked. Fortunately for the Blues, neither of those instances ended up with the Magpies scoring, though they were close for the first one when Robert Sanchez was forced to tip over Anthony Gordon’s ferocious strike.

On both occasions, the majority of Chelsea players surrounded Madley to vent their frustrations. But it had nothing to do with him. Newcastle could have done the ‘sporting’ thing and kicked the ball out of play for the injured players to receive treatment, but again, they do not have to.

That first-half did feel like a bit of deja vu from a Chelsea point of view. It was not the first time they have seemed fragile while Newcastle looked imperious at St. James’ Park. That is what makes the second-half showing from the visitors even more impressive.

Maresca, speaking post-match, said he tweaked something at the break from a tactical sense: “We changed something at half-time, we adjusted something at half-time. But again, overall I think in this stadium, 2-0 down at half-time, coming back is not easy for any team.”

He added: “The message at half-time, because even if we were 2-0 down in the first half and the performance was not good, but from the bench I could see that the plan we prepared was the right one.

“So in the first half the message was just continue to trust what we do. It is a matter of scoring the first one and if we are able to do that we have a chance to win the game. So this was my message at half-time.”

For various reasons, these past seven – or so – days have been crazy from a Chelsea perspective. Out of virtually nowhere, there seems to be so much scrutiny on Maresca and the Blues. The character and professionalism shown by the players, though, has been excellent and that has been reflected by two wins and a credible, hard-fought draw at one of the toughest places to go in the country.