Alan Shearer makes ‘very average’ Chelsea claim after Newcastle United win

Alan Shearer expressed his delight at Newcastle United’s 1-0 victory over Chelsea. Eddie Howe’s side remain third in the Premier League table heading into the five-and-a-half-week World Cup break.

Following a tightly fought opening hour, Joe Willock broke the deadlock on 67 minutes when Joelinton sent a ball down the line to Miguel Almiron, who cut inside of Kalidou Koulibaly and let Willock do the rest as he unleashed a strike that beat Edouard Mendy from distance.

Tempers flared in the closing stages as Graham Potter’s side pushed for an equaliser. However, United kept their cool to see out their fifth victory in a row, one that opened up a nine-gap over their visitors, who sit in eighth.

And Shearer believes Newcastle made Chelsea “look very very average”. He tweeted: “Get in @NUFC another very impressive performance, making Chelsea look very very average.”

On the result, Howe said: “We just edged it in terms of getting a goal. We’re indebted to Nick Pope with his save, but Joe Willock produced a moment of magic for us.

“We needed to step up to try and win the game. I thought both defences played very well. Thankfully Joe has come up with a great goal, but we were committed to everything today. The physical demands of that game were so high.

“I feel immense pride at how the players have performed consistently. Now the challenge is to maintain and enhance that. We’ll focus on what we think we can improve as a team. Hopefully the boys can come back from the World Cup in good spirits.”