Eddie Howe’s reaction: “Desperately disappointed, devastated not to win. I think the free kick changed the game … we had chances, that elusive third goal wasn’t there today. There’s a positive feeling about how we played today, tactically and physically. I think we’ve seen an uptick in performances, but I’m disappointed with the results.”

On the non-penalty: “It was a clear penalty, [Chalobah] has gone in to Anthony aggressively. That’s a free kick anywhere else on the pitch.”

Here’s how the Premier League table stands …

You can follow all the 3pm action with Emillia Hawkins, as Manchester City bid to overtake Arsenal at the top – if only for a few hours.

Here are the scores from the early EFL games:

Championship
Blackburn 2-0 Millwall
Preston 1-1 Norwich
Southampton 1-1 Coventry

League One
Stevenage 2-2 Burton
Wigan 0-2 Blackpool

League Two
Bromley 2-0 Grimsby
Notts County 0-0 Walsall

Some telling stats for you:

• This was the first time Newcastle failed to win a league match in which they led by 2+ goals since August 2022 v Man City (3-3), ending a run of 40 successive wins from such a position.

• In the first half, Newcastle had seven shots (five on target) to Chelsea’s four (none on target) and 1.97 xG to 0.24.

• In the second half, Chelsea led for shots with nine (four on target) to four (none on target) and on xG with 1.02 to 0.29.

A thought on Newcastle, who have now dropped 13 points from winning positions. When they’re riding a wave early on, they look unstoppable – but that intensity and energy turns to chaos when opponents hit back. Easier said than done, but they need to work out how to calm things down once they’ve got in front.

“That’s a really disappointing result and second half performance, which far outweighs the many positives from the first half,” writes Chris Paraskevas. “No-one was able to take charge in midfield and we were perhaps lucky not to lose it at the end. A bad night at the office and much to ponder for us Toon fans over Christmas.”

As the players trudge off to the strains of “Last Christmas” (Whamageddoning me and thousands of others), we can finally catch our breath. Maybe if Luton v Manchester United in 1984 had been that entertaining, Wham’s festive classic would never have existed.

Reece James: “It was a game of two halves … we had to review and change a few things,” says the Chelsea captain. “To execute the free kick when we needed to pull something out of the bag, it’s a good feeling. We couldn’t win today, but it’s important not to lose.”

95 mins: Bruno Guimaraes lifts the ball forward and Barnes runs on to it – for a second, he seems to be clear of James, but then goes down as the ball bounces through to Sanchez. There’s a VAR review for a red card – I think it would be very harsh – and after a few moments of suspense, the on-field decision of “nothing doing” stands.

94 mins: Garnacho is caught by Miley on the halfway line and Chelsea take a quick free kick, but Thiaw gets across well to clear the ball from Garnacho. Sixty seconds to go …

93 mins: Chelsea have the ball but Newcastle hold firm, and eventually Neto sends a hopeful cross into Ramsdale’s arms.

90 mins: Five added minutes!

89 mins: Joe Willock is on for Ramsey, and the substitute lets the ball skid away in the Chelsea area. Elanga runs onto it but can’t turn it back to a Newcastle player. Time running out for a winner …

88 mins: The winger races upfield, chased by Cucurella, who manages to stand him up on the edge of the area – and Elanga’s effort is wide of the far post! Harvey Barnes, who had busted a gut to get alongside him, throws his arms to the sky.

87 mins: Cucurella wins a corner, but Reece James drifts his delivery into Ramsdale’s hands. And Newcastle break through Elanga …

85 mins: Yowza! 75% of the home crowd think Harvey Barnes has scored here, but his volley from Bruno’s cross is just wide.

84 mins: Joao Pedro is booked, the seventh member of Enzo Maresca’s Crazy Gang to go into the book, including Maresca himself.

83 mins: At the other end, the ball ricochets around the Chelsea area before Schar sends an awkward volley high over the bar. He looks to have pulled something in the process.

82 mins: Andrey Santos is booked – the eighth yellow card of the game. Cut this game down the middle and it would simply read: BARCLAYS.

81 mins: Garnacho slides a shot around Miley, forcing Ramsdale to get down and parry away at his near post. Chelsea back on the front foot …

80 mins: Caicedo is allowed to carry the ball an indecent distance, with Newcastle standing off, and sends a rising shot not too far over the bar.

78 mins: Guimaraes and Fernandez scrap for the ball in the South American style. A Chelsea change, and it’s Cole Palmer going off, with Andrey Santos replacing him.

77 mins: Wissa is booked for a foul on Garnacho but Newcastle come again … and Wissa prods through to Barnes, who’s clear of the back four. Or so he thought – a heavy first touch allows James to scramble the ball behind for a corner!

76 mins: There’s been a merciful lull as both sides take a collective breath – but Chelsea push forward again here, Miley making a crucial interception as Neto looked for Garnacho on the left.

74 mins: Here is an official explanation for the contentious non-award of a penalty when Chalobah collided with Anthony Gordon.

“The referee’s call of no penalty to Newcastle was checked and confirmed by VAR – with the contact from Chalobah on Gordon deemed to be side-to-side in a shielding action and the ball within playing distance.”

73 mins: Barnes bustles into the penalty area and goes down as James makes contact – but Madley says no, and replays show there wasn’t much in it.

72 mins: Woltemade, Gordon and Murphy – who collectively terrorised the Chelsea defence early on – are all going off, replaced by Wissa, Barnes and Elanga.

71 mins: Woltemade and Gordon hover over the ball but Schar takes it, and launches it high into the stands. Time for those changes …

70 mins: Before the substitutes can come on, Caicedo is booked for a trip on Lewis Hall, who continues off-balance into the area before Reece James nicks the ball away. Newcastle free kick …

67 mins: Howe calls for three players to get ready, while Garnacho fires a shot just over at the near post after a sprint upfield. Chelsea look the more likely winners now, which is pretty incredible.

65 mins: A pained expression from Eddie Howe as Gordon’s cross is claimed by Sanchez. Don’t look now, Eddie …

64 mins: From the corner, Newcastle threaten to break away but Caicedo does a good job of holding up Gordon. When the hosts do get the ball in the box, Woltemade is brought down – but the offside flag is up.

63 mins: There’s simply no let up, as Garnacho gets to the byline and crosses towards Fernandez. Thiaw does very well indeed to get in front of the Chelsea player and hoof it out.

Nick Smith suggests a couple of “luxury utility players” in Steven Gerrard and Javier Zanetti, while Lucy Perez nominates Luis Enrique. “Surely Carlisle’s Jimmy Glass was the ultimate utility man?” asks Richard Hirst.

62 mins: The temperature is cranked up further as Palmer and Thiaw tussle for the ball, before Tonali and Caicedo collide.

60 mins: Schar, who has been popping up in midfield and on the left, is booked for a cynical clip on Joao Pedro.

59 mins: Big Cup tie vibes to this second half, with both teams pouring forward at every opportunity. Murphy gets behind Cucurella for Newcastle, but runs out of options.

58 mins: Caicedo is penalised for a foul on Guimaraes, leading Maresca to throw his arms up in frustration. The Chelsea manager is booked for his gesticulations.

57 mins: Big save! Neto fires a shot towards the near post from Garnacho’s cross, and Ramsdale has to throw himself across goal to paw it away. Chelsea have Newcastle rocking here …

55 mins: Fernandez is on for Gusto – does that mean James will drop back to his traditional right-back slot? He’s still getting forward, and his shot from Neto’s pull-back is blocked at the near post.

53 mins: Gordon scampers into the Chelsea box again and Chalobah gets across to usher the ball out … but simply barges the winger to the floor! There’s a VAR check, but no penalty. Chalobah is very lucky there – that’s a foul anywhere else on the pitch.

51 mins: Chelsea get forward again, Garnacho linking up nicely with Palmer, but Neto can’t sort his feet out in time to get a shot away.

50 mins: My colleague Andy Martin points out that Newcastle have dropped 11 points from winning positions this season. Is there more pain coming today?

47 mins: Palmer is barged over by Ramsey and wins a free kick in a decent position, some 30 yards out and central …

Join Emillia Hawkins for the Saturday clockwatch, covering four 3pm Premier League games and much more.

More multi-purpose players: “Yaya Toure started at centre half in a Champions League final for Barcelona and then scored 20 goals as a box-to-box midfielder in Man City’s 2014 title-winning campaign” notes Ky Rogers.

“Dave Webb played almost every position for Chelsea in the 70s – he even played in goal once, I believe” writes Jonathan McKinley.

Eddie Howe has a half-time chat: “I think we’ve been really good athletically … we want to continue the momentum, and the intensity has got to remain high.” What did he tell his players? “I’d rather keep that to myself, but it was along those lines!”

Have you caught up with our top 100 of 2025 yet? If not, why not?

Some more multi-purpose players:

Geoff Wignall suggests: “Paul McGrath, Kevin Beattie, Paul Madeley, John Charles, and Denis Law: a natural No 10 routinely playing everywhere all at once.”

“Newcastle offered up a few candidates of varying quality and fame,” writes Chris Paraskevas. “James Milner, Charles N’Zogbia, James Perch, Moussa Sissoko and Ryan Taylor.”

47 mins: The corner is played short to Bruno, who heaves in a cross from deep. Newcastle have four or five players queuing up at the back post – but Lewis Miley heads it over, when he should perhaps have left it to Woltemade behind him.

46 mins: Four minutes of injury time – and Chelsea are back to hanging on, Caicedo clumsily conceding a corner as he tries to stop Woltemade turning in the area.

45 mins: Chelsea are furious that play wasn’t stopped for a foul on Cole Palmer, and Malo Gusto becomes the third man in blue to pick up a yellow.

44 mins: Ooof! Woltemade really should have completed his hat-trick here as a sweeping break upfield ends with Gordon pinging in another perfect cross. The big striker gets his studs on it, but sends it wide of the near post!

42 mins: Now the visitors have the ball in the net – but it’s quickly disallowed for handball. It was Neto who got beyond Gordon to meet Garnacho’s cross, but his awkward header rebounded off his arm before rolling into the net.

40 mins: Chelsea are enjoying their best attacking spell of the game, with Newcastle looking to soak up pressure until the break.

39 mins: From another Chelsea free-kick, Neto’s delivery rebounds to Garnacho, whose fierce effort is blocked. Newcastle half-clear and there’s appeals for a penalty as the ball hits Gordon’s hand – but he’s outside the area.

37 mins: A Chelsea free kick is headed away, and Bruno Guimaraes gets the throw in when his clearance is deflected into touch.

33 mins: Schar drifts out to the left flank and tries to ping in a cross, which is cleared. Then Guimaraes finds Woltemade in the area, whose backheel towards Ramsey is blocked. There are shouts for handball, and it does catch Fofana’s outstretched hand – but Peter Bankes rules that the defender was moving his arm back.

31 mins: Palmer whips in a cross which is easily gathered by Aaron Ramsdale. This Chelsea line-up, with Garnacho, Palmer and Neto all in behind Joao Pedro, feels far too open. I wonder if Maresca will make changes at the break.

“Newcastle are giving Chelsea a right chasing today. They seem to be doing to the Blues what Sunderland did to them last week … although I wouldn’t be saying that out loud at St. James Park,” writes Justin Kavanagh.

Very true, and don’t forget that this Chelsea side beat Barcelona 3-0 not long ago. Imagine what Regis Le Bris’s boys would do to them.

28 mins: Oof! Lewis Hall almost gets in on the act with a well-hit volley from a tight angle – but Sanchez gets behind it.

27 mins: Palmer does well to stick a leg out and intercept the short free kick, but Chelsea lose the ball and Garnacho is booked for bringing down Jacob Murphy. The visitors are getting bullied here.

26 mins: No let up from Newcastle, with Gusto shoving Gordon off the ball after tackling Tonali well, but getting no help.

24 mins: That took about three minutes, with semi-automated offside technology not working correctly. I feel like that happens quite a lot. The delay might actually help Chelsea regroup – the meagrest crumb of comfort for Enzo Maresca.

Goal? It’s worked wide to Gordon, who is given too much space on the left to cut inside and send in a pinpoint cross – and Woltemade gets a toe on it, flicking into the far corner! But is he offside? It looks very close, and VAR Peter Bankes has to get his rulers out …

19 mins: Reece James is penalised for clanging into the back of Gordon. Newcastle free kick …

17 mins: A spell of quick but scrappy possession from Chelsea, who are being hounded by Newcastle. Gordon absolutely leathers the ball into the hoardings to stop Joao Pedro progressing.

15 mins: Sanchez claims the corner, but then chucks it to Lewis Hall, who lifts the ball into the empty net – thankfully for the keeper, the referee had blown up for a foul by Schar. The right call, but why on earth did Sanchez throw it?

14 mins: Lewis Hall, up against his formative club, gets forward but sees his cross cut out by Gusto. Another Newcastle corner …

12 mins: Neto tries to find the right angle in the Newcastle box, but Fabian Schar – 34 today! – blocks his effort, and Gordon then wins a foul from Gusto.

11 mins: Garnacho prods the ball beyond Lewis Miley but can’t catch up to it before it trickles out for a goal kick.

10 mins: It felt like Newcastle would come flying out of the traps here; now it’s up to Chelsea to get a foothold in the game. They’ve just had to work the ball back to Sanchez, under constant pressure.

9 mins: Gusto went down hurt after failing to stop Gordon getting the shot away that led to Newcastle’s goal; he seems OK to carry on for now, and I’m not sure Chelsea can feel too aggrieved about anything.

8 mins: The first Newcastle corner is nodded away by Joao Pedro; the second, curled in by Tonali, almost sneaks into the top corner!

6 mins: Gordon has another shot on goal, close to the penalty spot – but Sanchez tips it over the bar! The keeper is incensed that play continued, with Gusto down holding his leg – and is booked for dissent.

4 mins: Chelsea look to rally quickly and Pedro Neto fires a shot high and wide from a dangerous cross. At the other end …

Anthony Gordon is key here, winning possession from Fofana and passing to Tonali, who finds Bruno Guimaraes, who sweeps it out to the right, where Murphy whips in a terrific cross. Gordon gets a touch at the far post, Sanchez makes an instinctive save – but Woltemade is there to smash home the rebound!

2 mins: A first shot on goal for Chelsea, with Cole Palmer trying a cheeky lob from the corner of the penalty area. It lands on the roof of the net.

“I’d like to nominate Michail Antonio, who played left and right wing as well as right back for the Hammers, before moving to centre forward and becoming our leading Premier League scorer to date,” writes Dan Barnett. “A true grafter who left it all on the pitch.”

Here’s all the live action you can enjoy with us this weekend …

Thanks to Chris Greenhough and Nick Whitbread, who emailed me within seconds of each other to nominate Paul Warhurst – as both noted, a utility phenomenon in the Premier League and Championship Manager, where he could play pretty much anywhere.

“One memorable utility shift was Ryan Bertrand, moved up to left wing in the 2012 Champions League final, sitting in front of Ashley Cole to track Arjen Robben. I believe he’s still the only player to have made his Champions League debut in the final,” says Rob Hobson.

“Last weekend’s shambolic and shameful defeat at the dark place won’t be forgotten about any time soon, so there is added pressure to get a result here,” writes Newcastle fan Chris Paraskevas.

“We’ve been waiting for a semblance of consistency from this team but too often it has been one step forward followed by two steps back. As much as there have been injuries, isn’t that to be expected of ‘big’ clubs playing in all the ‘big’ competitions?

“There’s a noticeable leadership vacuum on the pitch right now and Bruno cannot be expected to constantly lift the team off the canvas and drive us on. Some of the big players ought to look at the example set by Lewis Miley: quietly consistent, adaptable and always calm under pressure.”

One interesting trend this season – partly caused by injuries – has been the revival of utility players. Like Dominik Szoboszlai, Lewis Miley is dropping in to right-back from midfield effectively, while Reece James has moved the other way for Chelsea. At Manchester City, Pep Guardiola – who was shifting players around before it was cool – has settled on Nico O’Reilly and Matheus Nunes as his starting full-backs. Anyone I’m missing? And who are your favourite everymen from down the years?

Those Newcastle injuries: today Howe is without Burn, Livramento, Sven Botman, Dan Burn, Kieran Trippier, Emil Krafth, Jamaal Lascelles, William Osula and Nick Pope. No Premier League team has more players out at present, but there are more than 130 players nursing some kind of issue, according to Premier Injuries. It’s almost like they play too many games, or something.

Eddie Howe talks to TNT Sports: “We want lots of goalmouth action, there’s no better feeling than when you look like scoring goals. We want to pay the fans back for all their support, and the horrible feeling we gave them against Sunderland.”

As for Chelsea, there’s just one change from the team that beat Everton in the league last weekend – with Moises Caicedo replacing Enzo Fernández in midfield. Pedro Neto and Alejandro Garnacho, who came off the bench to earn Carabao Cup victory in Cardiff, both start today.

Newcastle make three changes from the defeat to Sunderland, with two Jacobs coming in – Ramsey in midfield and Murphy on the right wing. Anthony Elanga drops to the bench, while Lewis Miley slots in at right-back, as he did against Fulham in the League Cup, where he popped up with the winning goal. Tino Livramento and Dan Burn have both joined Eddie Howe’s long injury list, but Lewis Hall is fit to start today.